DeMistified
by C.S. Williams
Summary: For sixteen years, Percy thought he was the only demigod in the world. Now that he's met a daughter of Athena who wants to kill him and a son of Hermes who wants to kill everyone else, he kind of misses those days.
1. Hydra 101

**A/N: This is my first attempt at a multi-chapter or AU fanfic, so if either of those offend you, consider this fair warning! Also, T is probably pretty high for the rating, but I figured I'd err on the side of caution for now.  
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**Special thanks for this one goes to bibliophile114, who not only acted as beta reader but also gave me the idea in the first place. So now you all know who to blame, right? (Seriously, thanks. I can't say enough how awesome you are! ...Unless everyone hates this, of course... :P)**

**I hope you enjoy!**

Disclaimer: Aside from the plot, everything here belongs to Rick Riordan. Even though he's making us wait an entire year for the next book after ending "The Lost Hero" like that!

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Hydra 101<strong>

Well, this was definitely one of your classic good news, bad news situations.

The good news? After playing "Off With Your Heads" with a hydra for over an hour (the game probably wouldn't have lasted as long if I'd remembered right away hydras liked to grow heads twice as fast as I chopped them off), the hydra was officially ancient history. Well, kind of. It doesn't really count as ancient history when the monsters just re-form and go right back to trying to kill you.

But the bad news? I was now standing next to a smoking pile of rubble that used to be a high school gym. Whoops.

Still, as far as I knew, no one had been hurt, which meant I was getting better at this. When I saw the hydra was nesting in the alley behind the school, I'd sent my keeper, Grover, to evacuate all the kids. He'd told them there was some sort of bomb threat, which was usually a good cover story. And anyone looking at the gym right now was _not_ going to argue.

Anyway, I was feeling pretty proud of myself overall. Not only was I uninjured, I'd also gotten all the mortals out of danger _and_ only caused minor property damage. Someone was going to have to replace the water heater I'd had to blow up to dust the hydra, and of course the students were going to have to run their laps in the middle of Manhattan for awhile, but this definitely ranked as a success on Percy Jackson's List of Potential Disasters. Considering I'd just turned sixteen a couple months ago, that list was already pretty long.

I turned around to start the "fleeing the scene of the crime" part of the battle and stopped dead. Leaning casually against a streetlamp was a tall, suntanned girl with curly blond hair and steel gray eyes that matched her blazer and pleated skirt.

I cursed under my breath. She did not look happy. I wondered what she saw; I had firsthand experience with the tricks the Mist could play on mortals. Considering I still had my sword out and the wreckage behind me was still smoking, I didn't think this would end any better than last week's chimera fiasco had. (Given the highly circumstantial evidence, a lifetime ban from Chuck E. Cheese had seemed a little unreasonable.)

I put down my sword and held my hands in front of me non-threateningly. "Look, I can explain," I told the girl as calmly as I could while still looking frantically up and down the alley for any signs of police cars. Grover must have persuaded the police not to investigate the bomb threat somehow, but personal experience made me doubt he was prepared to hide an explosion. Even if he probably should have been expecting one by now. "I swear this isn't what it looks like."

"Oh, really?" the girl snorted. "It looks like you forgot hydras regenerate their non-immortal heads and were forced to finally use our school's water heater when you couldn't defend yourself anymore."

"No, that's not—wait, what?" I must have been staring at her like she had more heads than the hydra, because she rolled her eyes.

"Hydra. You. Water heater. Am I right, or am I right?"

I continued to stare. "You saw the hydra?"

She rolled her eyes again. "I think we've established that, yes. And while we're on the subject, the battle would have lasted about five minutes if you'd driven it into the furnace room of the school. Cauterize the head wounds so new ones can't grow. I suppose the burning water eventually accomplished the same feat, although that looked more like desperation to me—"

"Wait!" I said, stopping her as I finally realized what she was saying. "You saw me fighting the hydra, and you just decided to stand there and watch?"

She shrugged. "Yeah."

I started to get a little angry. "Why didn't you go get help or something? People could've gotten hurt! _I_ could have gotten hurt!" I didn't want mortals charging into battle or anything, but what kind of person just watches as someone fights for his life? And how had I not noticed her for over an hour? I could have sworn she appeared out of thin air.

The girl just shrugged again. "The school was already evacuated, and the hydra has a limited range, so the only person in danger was you. And you dying makes my life a lot easier. It was only logical not to interfere."

"Oh, as long as it was the _logical _choice," I said sarcastically. "I'm so sorry to inconvenience you by staying alive. Maybe you should've helped the hydra, huh?"

"I considered that," the girl said thoughtfully, her gray eyes calculating. "But there was never a good opening."

I was sure my jaw was about two inches from the ground at this point. This girl was certifiably insane.

"Anyway," she continued, "after the first ten minutes, I figured there wasn't much point. It was pretty clear you didn't have a chance."

"Well, apparently you were wrong," I snapped.

"Yes," she said, frowning. "I overestimated the hydra's abilities."

I scowled. "Or you underestimated mine."

"No." The way she said it, so matter-of-factly, had me nodding in agreement before I caught myself. I scowled deeper. Who did this girl think she was?

Suddenly I heard sirens in the distance. The girl must have heard them too, because she muttered something like, "I thought I'd taken care of them for at least another hour." Before I could ask, though, she sighed disappointedly. "You should probably run now."

My scowl melted into a grin. "What, upset you don't get to spend more time with me? I didn't know you cared."

I have no idea where she'd been concealing it, but suddenly the girl had a wicked-looking bronze knife pointed at my chest. It looked like the same material as my sword, but there was no way this girl could have access to celestial bronze. …Right? Either way, I was suddenly regretting dropping my sword so early.

"Let's be clear: I will _never_ care about _you_," she spat at me. "I'm only upset I don't have time to kill you before the police arrive. Now I have to wait and kill you later. I don't like to procrastinate."

"…And you're sure you're in high school?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes yet again and glanced pointedly at the ruined gym behind me. "No thanks to you. And if my drafting table isn't _exactly_ as I left it, I will personally hunt you down and chop off _your_ head."

And with that promise, she turned and sprinted down the street in front of the school.

I stood in shock for a moment. I'd ticked off girls before, sure, but so far they'd stopped short of actively promising my death by bronze knife. It was too bad the blond girl was so nuts. She'd been pretty cute for a psychopath.

The sounds of the approaching sirens broke into my thoughts and reminded me I had some running of my own to do. I'd have to ask my dad about the mysterious blond girl later. I jumped the chain-link fence at the end of the alley and took off.

* * *

><p>When I finally got back to our rendezvous point, Grover was already there. The rendezvous point was a foreclosed business just east of the hydra's nest, and he was currently pacing awkwardly in front of the "Sorry, we're closed!" sign in the window. He must have been worried too, because he was gnawing on an empty Coke can despite being in full view of any mortals wandering past the deserted store.<p>

"Hey, G-man, what's up?" I asked nonchalantly, strolling up behind him. He yelped and jumped a full foot in the air, dislodging one of his shoes and exposing his natural hoof. I glanced around quickly to make sure no one was watching us. Most people ignored Grover chomping on cans, but his hooves were a little harder to explain. That's how I'd found out Grover was a satyr in the first place, back when I was seven. Of course, that would have been a little more shocking if it hadn't come right after finding out my dad was an ancient Greek god.

"Perrrcy!" he bleated as he hurried to hide his hoof again. "What took you so long? That hydra should've taken about five minutes! Did you have trouble getting to the furnace in the school?"

Inwardly I groaned. Did everyone on the planet know about the furnace trick? Apparently I'd nodded off for a few minutes in Hydra 101 the other day.

"No, not at all," I lied smoothly. "I just had a little…trouble…after that." I hesitated for a minute, debating whether or not to mention the blond girl. Something told me I shouldn't go around telling the world, but Grover was my best friend. Plus I was going to go crazy if I didn't tell someone soon. "There was this girl…"

"A girl?" Grover made a strangled squeaking noise. "You almost gave me a heart attack because you were busy _flirting_?"

"No!" I said immediately. I could feel my cheeks heat up. "Not unless I really don't understand how flirting works."

Grover raised his eyebrows at me.

"Shut up," I grumbled. There wasn't exactly a ton of time to talk to girls when you were chasing monsters all over New York. I cleared my throat. "Anyway, she could see the hydra, and all she talked about was how much she wanted to kill me!"

"Hmm." Grover munched slowly on the rest of his can. "Beautiful? Deadly? Looked like a student?"

"Yes!" I was glad someone understood. "So you know who she was?"

"I know her kind," Grover said darkly. "Sounds like an _empousa_. It's usually easiest to make fun of their legs, since they're kind of self-conscious about them."

"Why?" I asked curiously. From the nice, long look I'd gotten at her legs, the girl had absolutely no reason to be self-conscious.

Grover stared at me. "Um, the whole one donkey leg, one bronze leg thing?"

I shook my head. "I think you've got it wrong, G-man. Definitely one hundred percent human. Take my word as a teenage guy."

Grover frowned. "You're sure?"

I nodded. "Positive. She looked just as normal as me or you. Well, me, anyway…" I glanced at the Coke can hanging from Grover's mouth.

"Well, some monsters are really good at disguising themselves," Grover offered, but it sounded pretty lame to me, like he was seriously reaching.

"She looked totally human," I insisted. "Usually monsters eventually reveal themselves, and she wouldn't have worried about getting picked up by the cops if she was a monster, would she?"

"Wait, what cops?" Grover asked suspiciously, which was the part of my question I'd really been hoping he wouldn't pick up on.

"Um…" I rubbed the back of my neck. "Well, see, there was this accident with a water heater…"

Grover sighed. "Percy! My confusion spell was only good for the bomb threat! How did you manage to draw police with a water heater?"

"Well, I kind of had to blow it up," I said sheepishly. "In the name of saving innocent lives, of course. It was heroic! Really!"

Grover raised his eyebrows at me, and I knew I was about to get a thirty-minute lecture on the importance of not ending every battle with an explosion. As he opened his mouth, I quickly stepped in. "Hey, look at the time. If we don't hurry, I'm going to be late for my training session with my dad!"

Grover glared at me, but he followed anyway. "He's not going to be happy you keep drawing attention to yourself, Percy. You remember the very first lesson he taught you, years ago…"

This time I didn't bother hiding my groan. Neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor threat of being blasted to bits by an impatient god could stop a satyr in lecture mode.

* * *

><p>Thirty minutes of "I really learned my lesson this time!" and "of <em>course<em> I'll be more careful in the future!" later, Grover finally ran out of steam. Well, he stopped lecturing, at least. We were coming up on my apartment, so he might have just decided to wait until we were inside and my mom could take over for him. They were big on tag teaming like that.

Neither of us was expecting what we saw when we opened the door, though. My mom was there with her laptop, like always. And standing next to my mom was…my dad.

"Lord Poseidon," Grover said reverently, bowing low.

"Um, hey," I said awkwardly, trying not to slouch.

My dad looked amused for a second. "Hello, Percy. And Grover, my favorite satyr. I think perhaps I've mentioned this before, but the bowing is a bit unnecessary."

Grover opened his mouth as if to disagree, which meant I immediately slapped my hand over his face before he could say anything. My dad was pretty easygoing for an all-powerful god, but he wasn't fond of anyone disagreeing with him. It'd started more than a few feuds on Olympus. I still had to duck whenever an owl passed overhead thanks to his latest disagreement with Athena.

"So…I wasn't _that_ late for training, was I?" It was a pretty lame attempt to lighten the mood, but I couldn't help it. It wasn't like my dad was in the neighborhood and decided to just drop by for a visit. We always did our training in his undersea palace, because he claimed he hated solid ground.

My father smiled faintly. "No, Percy, I only wish I were here to discuss your difficulty with the concept of punctuality. Or your highly inventive hydra battle strategy." His eyes twinkled, and I know I turned red. Would it be too much to ask for my dad to _not _see everything?

My mom frowned. "You were battling a hydra? In this weather, without a jacket?"

That's my mom. Want to fight a highly dangerous monster capable of killing you a million different ways? Have fun! Want to go outside in the middle of October without a jacket? You'd have better luck reasoning with the monster.

"Relax, Mom, it wasn't a big deal. There was plenty of superheated water to keep me warm." Before she could ask exactly what that meant, I turned back to my dad. "So why are you here then?"

He wasn't smiling anymore. "I'm afraid I…well, I'm not sure quite how to say this." He looked at my mom, but she just raised her eyebrows. Apparently my dad was on his own. "Look, Percy, I haven't been entirely honest with you. Do you remember back when you were seven, and you found out I wasn't human?"

I nodded. My mom had decided to go with a pool party for my birthday. The YMCA held the honor of being the first place to ever ban me.

"Do you remember what the first thing you said to me was?"

I thought back. "Uh, something like, 'Huh?' "

My dad's faint smile returned. "Well, yes, there was quite a bit of that. I knew my children weren't known for their brains, but I'd had slightly higher hopes for you."

"I was seven!" I protested, shooting a glare at Grover whose shoulders were shaking suspiciously.

"Some children are already traveling across the country fighting monsters by age seven, as certain goddesses never fail to remind me." Poseidon glared at the ceiling briefly, and my mom and I exchanged a look we usually reserved for conspiracy theorists on the subway. "Anyway," my dad said as he cleared his throat, "after you finally figured out what we were talking about, you turned to me and asked, 'So when do I get to meet Hercules?' "

I grimaced. I was _seven_. The only things I knew about Greek mythology came from the Disney movie, and Hercules was pretty awesome. Of course, it hadn't helped when my dad had introduced me to Grover a couple days later. I didn't bother to learn his name for two years. I just called him "Phil."

"Right," I said, remembering. "And you said I couldn't meet him, because Hercules had died a long time ago. Back when the gods still had a bunch of kids."

"Yes." My dad looked a little uncomfortable now, like he usually did whenever he had to do a parenting thing. And like he usually did when confronted with parenting, he turned to my mom.

She sighed. "Look, Percy, I haven't been home-schooling you so you could fight monsters full time. Or because I didn't think the schools could handle your dyslexia. The truth is…all demigods get home-schooled."

"Yeah, so?" I asked, not understanding what the big deal was.

My parents shared another look, and my mom repeated, "_All_ demigods get home-schooled."

I was starting to get annoyed when suddenly her words sunk in. "Wait, so there _were_ more demigods before me?"

My dad nodded. "Yes. And…well, not just before you."

I was confused, and it must have shown, because Grover spoke next. "Percy, you're not the only demigod alive today. There are actually quite a few."

My heart stopped, but only until I realized how angry I was. "So what was all that 'you have to fight monsters because no one else can' stuff? And the endless hours training by myself at the bottom of the ocean? And being told every day how 'special' I am, being the first demigod born in 150 years?"

"You _are_ special," my mom said sharply. "And I'm not just saying that because I'm your mother. You're so special that we finally had to tell you all this. We were supposed to tell you months ago, but you were so happy…"

Now my mom looked like she was going to burst into tears, which made me feel guilty. I hadn't meant to make her cry, even if she'd been lying to me for almost ten years.

"Why now?" I asked instead, hoping to distract her. "Why today?"

My father glanced at the door. "The time has come for you to leave home, Percy. The extraction team should be here any moment."

"What?" I demanded, panicking. I looked at my mom. "I don't want to leave!"

Now my mom definitely had tears in her eyes. "We don't have a choice, Percy. If you stay here, we can't protect you anymore. And you'll be needed at camp."

" 'Protect me?' " I repeated in disbelief. I was the one who protected everyone else! Suddenly it dawned on me. "This is about the girl, isn't it?"

This stopped both my parents. Grover groaned.

"What girl?" asked my mom. She grinned a little. "Is she cute?"

I tried to stop it, but I know I blushed a little. Leave it to my mom to turn this into an opportunity to pry into my love life. I decided to ignore the question. "The blond girl who wants to kill me! Is she the reason I have to go into hiding?"

"No one said anything about hiding." My dad was probably trying to make me feel better, but given the monsters I'd faced lately, I wasn't sure hiding would be such a terrible thing. "Tell me about this girl."

Before I could, a knock came at the door, and my mom went to open it. I don't know what I was expecting. Mrs. Bayer from across the hall to borrow a cup of sugar, maybe. Old Mr. Norman telling us to keep the shouting down, even though everyone knew he was going deaf. Something like that.

I definitely was not expecting to see a man in a wheelchair surrounded by half a dozen kids in Greek armor. The man looked vaguely familiar, but not nearly as familiar as the gray-eyed blond girl behind him glaring directly at me.


	2. Camp Alpha

**Chapter 2: Camp Alpha**

I tried not to stare at the blond girl, but it was kind of impossible. Whatever I'd done to tick her off so badly, I guess I hadn't magically fixed it sometime in the last hour.

Beside me, Grover cleared his throat. When I looked over, he was jerking his head toward my dad in that way people do when they're trying not to be obvious about it, which just looks even more obvious. I think releasing another hydra to get my attention would have been more subtle, because he looked like he was having some sort of neck seizure.

I quickly turned my attention to the conversation my dad was having with the guy in the wheelchair before Grover gave himself whiplash.

"I assume you will be taking Perseus to camp immediately?" my father was asking. I scowled. He always insisted on using my full name around other people. It's not that I minded my name or anything. My mom had chosen "Perseus" because she couldn't find another demigod who'd gotten a happy ending, which was, you know, totally encouraging. But usually when other people heard my name, they laughed first and thought about the significance later.

I wasn't too worried about the guy in the wheelchair, but I was definitely less sure about the kids behind him. I figured if they really were part of this crazy Greek mythology thing, though, at least they'd respect the name "Perseus" enough not to burst out laughing, right?

Wrong. Two guys who could've been twins with their curly brown hair and identical smirks snorted in unison, and it spread around the group until even the blond girl was trying to hide a smile.

"Um, I prefer 'Percy,'" I added hastily before it went any further.

This didn't help my case, apparently. Now the twins were laughing loudly.

"He singlehandedly defeated a hydra earlier today, you know," the guy in the wheelchair said mildly.

If he was expecting them to be impressed, he missed the mark by about a mile.

"Oh yeah?" the slightly shorter twin asked. "Was it beating him up for his lunch money?"

"Nah," the other said. "It was trying to copy his math homework. He _had_ to kill it or else the principal might have kicked him off the Mathletes!"

"Hey! That's not fair!" Grover interjected furiously. "Percy's _terrible_ at math; there's no way anyone would ever copy—"

"Thanks, G-man," I interrupted with a sigh, resigning myself to never impressing another human being as long as I lived. Oh well. At least the blond girl wasn't glaring anymore.

Scratch that. Not glaring as much. She was definitely still glaring.

"Hey, did you hear the one about nerd and the Nemean Lion?" one of the twins continued, but the guy in the wheelchair cut him off.

"That's quite enough, Mr. Stoll," he admonished with a pointed look.

"But—" the other started.

"That goes for _both_ Mr. Stolls," the man said sternly. The twins exchanged glances and shrugged.

"Sorry, Chiron," they chorused, but they didn't seem too sincere to me. It might have had something to do with their matching grins. Or the high five they gave each other after they said it.

"Wait, you're Chiron!" I realized suddenly. "That's where I know you!" I paused. "Shouldn't you be half-horse?"

Chiron looked amused. "I'm afraid a centaur roaming the streets is considered a little odd, even by New York City standards. But yes, when you last saw me I was in my full form."

"You tried to teach me archery," I remembered.

"Yes, 'tried' is an excellent word," Chiron said with a slight smile. "Considering how very little time it took us to discover a bow and arrow would never be your weapon of choice. You'll be pleased to know nearly all the hair on my hindquarters has officially grown back."

"I was _seven_!" Why did all these people seem to think seven-year-olds had super powers? Well, aside from the obvious immortal parents thing, I mean.

"By the time I was seven, I'd won two state archery tournaments," offered a tall surfer-looking guy at the back of the group. I noticed he was the only one with a quiver on his back; everyone else was carrying swords. Well, minus the angry blond girl, who was armed only with her bronze knife. If I hadn't known her, I might've been tempted to think that made her somehow less dangerous than the others. Unfortunately, I knew her.

I guess Chiron could tell I was getting a little annoyed, because he quickly changed the subject. "It's good to see you again, my boy. But I'm afraid this is not a social call. I'm going to have to ask you to come with us."

"Do I have to?" I knew I sounded whiny, but so far I was not liking this crowd. I wondered if Chiron would accept, "Thanks but no thanks. I prefer blood-thirsty monsters to people who laugh at my name."

He nodded sympathetically. "I'm sorry, but yes. We sent a scout ahead to help you defeat the hydra and bring you to join us earlier today, but apparently she just missed you somehow…"

Chiron glanced at the blond girl, who met my gaze evenly despite looking slightly guilty. It was obvious she'd lied about seeing me for some reason. I got the feeling her one-woman crusade to murder me wasn't exactly sanctioned. Judging from the proud set of her jaw, she wasn't going to defend her actions either. I had to admire her conviction, since I could tell she was just waiting for me to call her out on it.

"Uh, yeah, I guess I took care of the hydra pretty quickly," I said instead, my gaze lingering on the blond girl just long enough to register the surprise flickering across her face. If she was hoping I'd explain myself later, she was going to have a long wait. I had no idea why I'd covered for her. It just hadn't seemed fair to rat her out without giving her a chance to explain first, even if her explanation was going to be about why she wanted to kill me (and that was assuming she didn't kill me before I had a chance to ask). At least now she owed me one.

Grover opened his mouth to say something, but I shot him a look. He looked from me to the blond girl and back again, and I saw comprehension dawn on his face. He frowned disapprovingly, but he didn't say a word.

Chiron didn't look convinced by my weak explanation either, but before he could question it, my father broke in. "I think you had better be on your way, Chiron. Lord Zeus has made it abundantly clear he will not tolerate my son on his own for much longer."

I was about to protest again, but the look my dad sent my way convinced me it was pointless. My mom handed me a packed duffel bag and, before I could stop her, hugged and kissed me right in front of everyone. I know I turned bright red.

"I packed a few of your things for you, so you should have everything you need," she said. She paused then reached out to hug me again. "I love you, Percy."

I think that's when it hit me I was really leaving home for the gods knew how long. I got a little choked up. "I love you too, Mom," I managed.

To their credit, none of the other kids laughed at me this time. When I finally dared to glance over at them, some were smiling wistfully and some were looking a little depressed, but no one was laughing. For the first time, I thought maybe these guys weren't so bad.

Chiron cleared his throat. "We had best be going. Lord Poseidon, Mrs. Jackson," he said, nodding to my parents. They nodded back, and my mom snuck in one last hug as I started to follow everyone out the door.

"Percy," my father called after me. I turned around. He started to say something then seemed to think better of it. "Good luck," he said instead.

"Thanks," I answered, trying not to feel too disappointed. I knew better than to expect anything too personal from my dad by now. He wasn't exactly the sharing type.

Chiron put his hand on my arm, reminding me I had to go. I swallowed hard and gave a quick wave to my parents as Grover and I went to join the group.

As soon as we were outside, Chiron motioned me into the center and stationed everyone around me with their weapons drawn.

"Um, no offense, but I'm pretty handy with a sword," I said. "I think I might be more use—"

"The whole point of this is to keep you alive," the blond girl interrupted me harshly. I just stared at her for a minute. Yes, because she'd been _so_ concerned about that earlier. "We can't let Kronos get his hands on you, and that means you stay in the middle and shut up."

"Hey, wait a minute—" I started, only to be cut off again, this time by one of the twins.

"Oh, don't worry about Annabeth," he said, taking the position directly behind me. "She's just cranky 'cause she hasn't gotten to design any new buildings today."

His brother nodded. "And sorry about laughing at your name earlier. We should've been more sensitive. Hey, to make up for it, why don't you let us carry your pack?"

"Yeah, we were total jerks. Let us make it up to you." They both grinned at me.

I eyed them suspiciously. They didn't seem like the kind of guys who offered to do things for you out of the kindness of their hearts.

"Don't do it," warned Annabeth as if she were reading my mind.

I'd been pretty sure I wasn't going to hand anything over to them anyway, but as soon as she'd told me not to, I thought maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. "Why shouldn't I? At least _someone_ here is being nice to me."

"And isn't that the point of the welcoming committee?" asked one of the brothers sincerely.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at them. "Percy, meet Travis and Connor Stoll. Sons of Hermes."

"Aww," said the taller one with a pout. "C'mon, Annabeth, you didn't have to tell him that."

"You are _not_ stealing the new kid's stuff again, Travis. There's no way I'm risking a repeat of the skeleton warrior incident when you took Nico's Mythomagic cards."

A short, black-haired boy next to Annabeth turned around to glare menacingly at the brothers.

"Fine," the shorter one—Connor, I assumed—agreed reluctantly. He brightened a little. "You any good at poker, Percy?"

I didn't get a chance to answer, because Chiron brought us to a halt in front of a super sweet red Maserati parked right in the middle of the street in front of my apartment building. I frowned. That _had_ to be a traffic violation.

The guy behind the wheel didn't seem too concerned. With his bright blond hair and equally bright yellow t-shirt, he was kind of hard to look at. Maybe he thought so too, because even when he turned to look at us, he didn't take off his sunglasses.

"Someone call for a ride?" he asked with a grin.

"Lord Apollo," Chiron greeted him. He didn't sound too happy. "Shouldn't your chariot be halfway across the globe?"

Apollo waved it off. "Nah. No one's going to notice the sun's missing for a few minutes. I made sure it's all cloudy."

Chiron frowned disapprovingly. "And your father is…aware of this?"

Apollo's grin grew. "Who do you think sent me? He wants his nephew hidden as quickly as possible." He snapped his fingers. "Oh, I've got a haiku!"

"No!" protested all the other kids immediately. Well, everyone except the blond guy with the bow. He looked like he agreed wholeheartedly, but he was biting his lip to keep silent.

"What?" I asked, confused. "Isn't getting a haiku from the god of poetry like having Michael Jackson sing at your birthday party?"

The kids were shaking their heads furiously, even the blond guy, but luckily Apollo didn't seem to notice.

He turned his grin on me. "Percy, right? I knew I was gonna like you."

"Um, thanks?" I ventured, but before I could get any farther, Apollo continued.

"_Son of the sea god_

_Needs my help not to die_

_Good thing I'm so cool._"

"Ah, yes, very nice, Lord Apollo," Chiron said hurriedly, causing Apollo to beam. And I mean literally beam. I felt like I was staring directly at the sun.

"Wait, doesn't a haiku have seven—" I started, but Annabeth elbowed me painfully in the ribs. I glared at her, but since they'd all been right about the poetry, I decided not to say anything.

"Anyway, we should be getting the kid to camp, huh?" Apollo jumped out of the Maserati and surveyed it critically. "I hate to do this, but desperate times and all."

He snapped his fingers again, and we all cringed in case it meant he'd thought of another haiku. Instead the Maserati changed into a minivan, which would have been a lot cooler if it'd been anything but a minivan. He opened the door and gestured for us to start piling in.

At first none of us moved. Apollo didn't seem like the type of guy you wanted playing chauffer. Finally, though, Chiron started toward the van, and we all followed his lead. Apollo stopped the blond kid before he could get in.

"Hey, Will, want to drive? It's about time I gave one of my own another shot at it," Apollo asked with a grin, twirling the keys around on his finger.

Will winced. "Uh, no. Thanks, Dad, but I'm…um…I'm supposed to be defending Percy," he explained, looking grateful for the excuse. Personally I thought it was a little weak. Who was going to attack me while I was with a god in his own sun chariot? Maybe Will just didn't want to be spotted driving a minivan.

Apollo shrugged. "Your loss. All right, next stop: Camp Alpha!"

Will jumped in and closed the door behind him, and we lurched forward at speeds that should _not_ have been possible for a minivan. I understood now why Will had passed on it. New York traffic was insane at the best of times. Going the speed of light wasn't helping.

I really wanted to ask where we were going, but everyone including me spent the entire ride desperately trying not to puke. I wondered what Apollo would do if Zeus ever decided to impose a speed limit on the sky. I didn't see it going over very well.

Five minutes later, we'd reached the coast, and below us stretched a campsite dotted with tents and fire pits. I stared out the window. I expected something a little more high-tech from a god-sponsored camp.

We landed abruptly right on the beach, and we all clambered out as quickly as we could. Solid ground had never looked so inviting. Chiron seemed a little nervous that Apollo was going to stick around for awhile, but the sun god just waved at us cheerfully while we thanked him for the ride. He didn't even stop to say anything else to his son, but Will didn't look too offended. I guess my dad wasn't the only one with parenting issues. Or maybe Will just didn't want to chance having to listen to another haiku.

"Well," said Chiron, turning to Grover. "I suppose we should go see the Council, should we not?"

Grover didn't look too thrilled at the suggestion. "Oh. Um. Yes, I suppose."

"Wait, what Council?" I asked warily. I wasn't crazy about my best friend abandoning me in the middle of a bunch of strangers. Especially since I knew at least one wanted to kill me as soon as possible.

"Oh, nothing," said Grover nervously. He was doing his best to seem unconcerned, but it looked a lot more like serious half-goat indigestion. "I'll tell you about it later."

"But—"

"Percy," Chiron interrupted, "while we're gone, please stay within camp borders. You are only hidden from Kronos under our protection. Annabeth here will show you around camp."

He gestured to Annabeth, who looked about as happy with the arrangement as I felt. What was Chiron thinking, sending me alone on a tour with the girl who was waiting for a convenient time to murder me?

Oh, right. He didn't know about that, because instead of telling him like any sane person, I'd covered for her. Smart move, Percy.

Grover gave me a reassuring wave as he and Chiron left, but it didn't make me feel much better. I reluctantly faced Annabeth, who was standing next to me with her arm outstretched.

"What?" I demanded.

She pointed at my bag. "Give it here. Unless you want to drag it around with you on the tour."

That sounded like a better idea than blindly handing it over. "Didn't we already go through this once today?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to take it. I'm going to give it to Nico to take to your assigned bunk."

Nico raised his hand. "I solemnly swear your stuff is now more sacred to me than my own life. If it comes down to it, I will gladly sacrifice a thousand souls to protect your underwear."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," I said, rolling my own eyes at him. Still, there was something naturally trustworthy about the kid. Kind of a comforting "stealing your stuff is so beneath me" attitude. I handed him my duffel, and he slung it over his shoulder before starting down the beach toward the tents. I realized belatedly that I'd never bothered to look inside the bag, so I'd never have any idea if something went missing. I sighed. Hopefully the kid stayed true to his word, even if it'd been a pretty sarcastic word.

Will and the Stoll brothers followed Nico off the beach, leaving me alone with Annabeth. She didn't look particularly murderous, but I still felt uncomfortable. I didn't have much one-on-one experience even with girls who hadn't tried to kill me.

Finally she exhaled loudly. "I guess we should get this tour started." I noticed she said "tour" the way most people say "root canal." Annabeth gestured for me to start walking ahead of her, but I shook my head.

"Uh, no way. I'm not giving you the chance to pull out your knife and stab me in the back while I'm walking down the beach. So not an impressive way to die."

She gave me her patented _you-are-such-an-idiot_ look. "Relax. You made it safely to camp, so now you're under the gods' protection. I can't kill you here. Duh."

What, like I was supposed to know that? "What makes camp so special anyway? Seems as good a place to kill me as any."

"I _told_ you: the gods' protection. If I kill you outside camp, I kill you and Poseidon then kills me, but you're still dead. The gods can only interfere to avenge an insult or answer a direct appeal from a mortal. But if I tried to kill you inside the camp borders, the gods would strike me down before I had a chance. Chiron made them promise to make the camp a safe haven for demigods."

She looked annoyed at this. I guess the rule was seriously messing with her dreams of murder. "So that's why you lied about seeing me earlier today. You were sent ahead to make sure I made it safely to camp, but you knew it might be your last chance to get rid of me."

Annabeth nodded. "Yes. I saw an opportunity and I took it. I won't apologize, if that's what you're waiting for." She frowned. "But why didn't you tell Chiron? I thought for sure…"

She trailed off, and I shrugged. "You thought for sure I'd rat you out? If it makes you feel better, I thought for sure I would too. But next time we're outside camp borders, just remember you owe me."

"Hey, I never _asked_ you to cover for me," she said angrily. "I don't owe you anything!"

Her attitude was really starting to annoy me. "Fine! Then I'll go find Chiron right now and tell him everything!"

She glared. "Fine!"

We stood there staring each other down for a couple minutes until I realized we both had our hands on our weapons. So much for not trying to kill each other within camp borders. I made a conscious effort to stand down, taking a step back and moving my hand away from my sword. Annabeth eyed me warily, but eventually she did the same.

"So…" I tried to think of something to say that wouldn't get her yelling at me again. "What'd you mean when you said Poseidon would have killed you if you'd killed me?"

It wasn't exactly the non-inflammatory question I was going for, but I couldn't deny I was curious.

Annabeth looked at me like I was an idiot again. I got the feeling this was how most of our conversations were going to go. "It's not like he was just going to sit back and accept that you were dead, was he? That qualifies as an insult. He would have blasted me without a second thought."

"And you _knew_ that?"

There was the look again. "No, Percy, I just thought of this in the last hour. Of _course_ I knew it."

I was shocked. "So you want me dead badly enough to go on a suicide mission?"

She nodded like that was no big deal. "It would have been the ultimate insult to your father. The daughter of his most hated rival killing his only son."

I had so many questions I wasn't sure where to start. I picked the most obvious, so Annabeth could do all her making fun of me at once. "Wait, you're a demigod too?"

Sure enough, she rolled her eyes. "Yes. I'm a daughter of Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, among other things."

"Goddess of wisdom, huh?" I grinned. "That must be why you're such a wise a—"

"Percy!" she cut me off before I could finish, gesturing to a couple small children running up the beach toward us. An older guy was chasing after them without much success.

"—girl," I finished lamely. "I was going to say 'wise girl.'"

"Sure you were." She rolled her eyes yet again. The two kids sprinting full speed toward us stopped abruptly in front of Annabeth and immediately began talking over one another.

"Annabeth! He said the Revolutionary War was caused by the Boston Tea Party, but it's just stupid to reduce such a global conflict to one cause—"

"No, I said the most _immediate_ cause was the Tea Party! Besides, Annabeth, _she_ said the cause was the breaking of the Half-Blood Alliances—"

"_No_, I said if you were going to pick one cause, the Alliances were more important than a stupid tea party—"

"Guys!" The guy who had been chasing after them finally caught up. "Annabeth just got back. Let's give her some space, okay?"

The two kids, a girl and a boy who couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old, folded their arms over their chests in unison. I noticed both the kids and the older guy had blond hair that matched Annabeth's perfectly. More children of Athena, I was guessing. That would explain why kids who probably couldn't even spell 'revolutionary' were arguing over it.

The older guy looked a little frazzled. "Hey, Annabeth, welcome back. Do you have a second to settle an American Revolution dispute? They won't listen to me."

"Sure," Annabeth said with a smile. It took me a second to realize I'd never seen her genuinely smile before. She looked almost…nice. Luckily it didn't last long. She was back to frowning in no time.

"Malcolm, this is Percy. Percy, this is my half-brother Malcolm. Malcolm, could you keep an eye on him while I take care of this?"

I was about to take offense to being treated like a puppy who'd had an accident on the carpet, but Annabeth didn't give me a chance. She led the two kids a little ways away to settle their argument.

"So, you're the infamous Percy Jackson," Malcolm said with a grin. "Nice to finally meet you."

He held out his hand for me to shake, but I narrowed my eyes. "Before I get too friendly, answer me one question: is this desire to kill me a general Athena kid thing, or just Annabeth?"

"Oh, definitely a general Athena kid thing," he said cheerfully. "Nothing personal. Annabeth just had the best chance to actually take you down."

I couldn't tell if that was supposed to make me feel better or not. "So basically, our parents are fighting, so you all have to kill me?"

Malcolm's eyebrows knit together, as if he hadn't considered this before. "It might have something to do with it. I mean, my mom would never admit it, but she probably has a lower opinion of you because you're Poseidon's son. That can't have worked in your favor."

I was lost. "Okay, so then your mom told Annabeth to kill me for some other reason?"

He pursed his lips. "I wouldn't say she _told_ Annabeth to kill you. More like they analyzed the possible strategies, and you being dead seemed like the best on paper."

"Look, can we maybe just start from the beginning?" I could feel a serious headache coming on. If I ever went to an actual school, I knew now to avoid the smart kids at all costs.

He smiled sympathetically. "Sure. Anyway, there's this really freaky doomsday prophecy. The whole thing's not really important, well not to this at least, but the first two lines are: _a half-blood of the eldest gods/shall reach sixteen against all odds_. Half-blood means half-god and half-mortal, and the eldest gods are Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. And you're sixteen. So…"

A chill ran up my spine. "What, you think that's _me_?" I asked incredulously.

"Uh, yeah, we're pretty certain," Malcolm said. He almost sounded sorry. "You're the first of the eldest gods' children to reach sixteen since the prophecy was revealed."

I stared. "That makes no sense," I blurted out. "I hit sixteen over two months ago. Nothing spectacular happened, unless you count me passing my driver's test."

"Well, that's the thing. The prophecy just says you'll reach age sixteen. It doesn't say the prophecy will come to pass exactly on your sixteenth birthday." Malcolm shrugged. "So basically all we know is the events are in motion. Presumably everything's going to happen before you get to seventeen, or else the prophecy would've read something about reaching seventeen against all odds. Or maybe sixteen just worked better with the rhyme scheme. You never know with the Oracle."

I felt a little light-headed. "How did I not know about this before? And I still don't see how killing me is going to help anything."

"Ah, well." Malcolm scratched the back of his neck. "Your father thought it would be best if you weren't exactly…aware of it." I think he saw I was getting a little angry, because he quickly continued. "Look, the rest of the prophecy is seriously not cool. Lots of destruction and the world coming to an end and everything. But it also says a hero is going to make a choice that either preserves Olympus or destroys it, killing himself in the process."

"I'm going to kill myself and possibly the world?" My voice sounded shrill even to me, but Malcolm didn't comment on how unmanly it was. I guess being told you've got the potential to destroy the world gives you a pass on that.

"No, no," he hastened to reassure me. "At least, my mom doesn't think so. But anyway, that's part of the reason your dad didn't want you to know, in case you freaked out about it."

"And why would I possibly do that?" I asked, trying not to sound freaked out. I took a deep breath. "Why else didn't he want me to know?"

"Well, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades all had kids who were set to hit sixteen pretty close to you, so the chances that the prophecy referred to you in the first place were pretty slim. They've all been jockeying to make sure their particular son or daughter is the prophecy child. Zeus had a daughter, Thalia, who died and became a pine tree a few years ago—she's better now and shunning boys as a Hunter, long story—and he's got a son, Jason, who's about a year younger than you are. So Zeus wouldn't have been too upset if you'd died before you made it to sixteen. And Hades had a daughter, Bianca, who was about your age, but she became a Hunter _and_ died. So she wasn't really in contention anymore. That only left you, but Hades has a son, Nico, who's a few years younger than you too, so he still had a chance. Up until two months ago."

I nodded. My sixteenth birthday. My father had insisted I spend the day in his underwater palace, surrounded by an honor guard of his most loyal subjects. Now I understood why his most loyal subjects also seemed to be the burliest mermen I'd ever seen.

"Anyway," Malcolm continued, "Now it's all moot, because you have to be the half-blood of the prophecy. It doesn't do them any good to get rid of you anymore. But a new argument started after your birthday: are the half-blood and the hero the same person?"

"So I still might not be the one charged with saving or destroying Olympus?" I asked hopefully. I know I was supposed to be all for the glory, but I was perfectly fine with hiding out underwater for another year while someone else worried about the world. I knew some amazingly burly mermen.

"My mother doesn't think so, at least," Malcolm assured me. "And she's the goddess of wisdom, so her opinion usually holds a little weight. In fact, she, um, voted to kill you to make sure you couldn't be the hero of the prophecy. Some of the gods were afraid the hero wasn't even the one who was making the choice, though, and the choice could instead be the gods' decision to kill you. So everyone vetoed her suggestion. Well, everyone but Ares, but giving him a choice between killing someone and not killing someone is like giving Tantalus the choice between eating a hamburger and not eating a hamburger."

"So Athena got Annabeth to do her dirty work?" I asked angrily, barely listening to him. I could see why my dad was so against this goddess.

For the first time, Malcolm looked offended. "There was a little more to it than that. My mom had been keeping a close eye on you. She saw how impulsive you were. A couple times you blew up entire buildings just to draw attention away from your keeper. You're loyal to a fault, apparently. You'd let the world fall to save your family and friends. Not a great defining trait in someone who's going to make a choice to save or destroy the world."

"Hey, those were _empty_ buildings," I pointed out, but I couldn't argue with the rest of it. I didn't sound like hero material to me either, when he put it that way. "So now I just hide out here until the prophecy comes to pass?"

Malcolm sighed. "That's what the gods decided was best, two months ago. Of course, for all they know that's the choice from the prophecy. So your father has been able to hold them at bay. Until now."

"What's going on now?" I asked, but Annabeth chose that moment to rejoin the conversation.

"What's going on now is that Malcolm is going to stop telling you things you aren't supposed to hear," she said severely, glaring at her brother.

"You definitely inherited Mom's facial expressions," he muttered under his breath. Then, louder, "Percy deserves to know. Hiding it from him is terrible strategy. Even Mom knows it."

"She just said that because Poseidon wanted to hide it," Annabeth argued, but she didn't seem convinced. "Oh, well. At least now you see why I was willing to let the hydra kill you."

"Um, no. You actively threatened to kill me yourself," I corrected her.

She shrugged. "Well, sure, once the hydra failed and you ended up being everything my mother warned me about."

"Again, nothing personal!" Malcolm said with another grin.

"And what if I'd killed _you_?" I asked Annabeth.

"Then I would've tried next," Malcolm said, waving cheerfully as he left to chase down his little brother and sister again.

I turned to Annabeth. "I'm almost afraid to ask, but what's going on that's so important I had to be at camp all of a sudden?"

She looked uncomfortable, and I thought for a minute she wasn't going to answer. Finally she asked, "What has your dad told you about Kronos?"

I wracked my brain. "Definitely out of the running for any Father of the Year awards. Constantly trying to overthrow the gods from Tartarus. Nothing serious."

"Well, it's a little more serious now. He's making another attempt, but this time he's involving demigods. And it's working," she added darkly.

"But why would demigods ever choose Kronos over their own parents?" I asked, confused.

Annabeth sighed. "I forgot you have that whole personal loyalty flaw. It's a long story."

"How about the short version?" I suggested. There was no way I was waiting another sixteen years for people to explain things to me.

She chewed her lip. "Okay, I guess you deserve to know. I'll give it a shot. But Chiron should really be telling you this…"

"I don't care," I insisted. "I'll ask him again later to make him feel better or whatever. Just go."

Annabeth glared. "Fine. All right, so you know how the Civil War was due to half-bloods fighting each other?"

I definitely hadn't known that, but I didn't want to seem like a total idiot. "Of course. Who doesn't?"

That might have been a little much, because I don't think she believed me, but she kept going anyway. "Well, after it was over, the gods decided it was better for all the demigods to live completely separate lives so they wouldn't be tempted to fight such a devastating war again. The gods engineered the Mist to make sure no demigod ever knew another demigod existed."

I nodded. "Okay, so I'm betting that didn't work out so well, because here we all are."

"It worked well for over a century," Annabeth corrected me, "But mostly because the gods were too afraid to have many demigod children. The Big Three—Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades—even made a pact when the new prophecy was revealed not to have _any_ other demigod children. Zeus slipped up, then Poseidon, and that was the end of that."

She didn't need to sound so smug, I thought. "But now there's a whole camp?"

"Two," she corrected me again. "This is the New York camp, Camp Alpha. Camp Beta is on the opposite coast, near San Francisco. We only created them in the last decade. Up until recently, the gods were usually able to convince their children other demigods didn't exist. There were always a couple who could see through their parents' explanations, but never enough to really cause any problems. Then Kronos started gaining power a few years ago, and some of the air spirits joined him. They've been helping him achieve his main goal: dissolving the Mist. We think he's hoping to incite another half-blood war to divert attention from his assault on Olympus. So far the gods have been able to keep control over the mortals so they can't see what's really going on, but it takes more power to control demigods. Too much power."

"So everyone here is a demigod?" I looked around the unassuming campsite. Didn't we all have supernatural abilities? Where was the indoor plumbing?

"Mostly," Annabeth agreed. "We have a couple mortals who can see through the Mist, so they have to be protected. And of course almost every half-blood comes with a keeper, so we have plenty of satyrs at any given time too. But for the past few months, we've been sending the satyrs back out to find as many demigods as we can to put under protection."

"Why? Can't their parents just bring them to camp?" Although come to think of it, my parents hadn't…

Annabeth sighed. "The gods call for extraction teams sometimes, but most of the gods are too busy with the Kronos thing to keep track of all their kids. Sometimes the mortal parents bring their kids here directly, if the mortal parents know where their kids are."

"Why wouldn't they know where they are?" I demanded. It bugged me that the gods didn't consider their own kids worth their attention, but it bugged me more that apparently even the mortal parents didn't care either.

Annabeth was silent for a minute, and when she finally spoke again, her voice sounded a little strained. "Before the Civil War, there was a physical camp here. Almost like a summer camp, except it was a year-round safe haven for half-bloods to train. The gods destroyed it to erase any trace of demigod activity."

I didn't see what any of this had to do with parents not keeping track of their kids, but I didn't interrupt.

"Because destroying it meant there was no longer a safe place to train demigods, the gods decided to train their kids personally instead. The rule was as soon as a demigod was born, their godly parent was responsible for checking in on them periodically. By the time a demigod reached age seven, their godly parent was required to reveal him- or herself. That's also when demigods meet their keepers, who are supposed to watch out for the demigods when their parents can't be around. Training begins shortly after that. But this arrangement actually turned out to be a lot more dangerous for demigods."

"Yeah, I can see how having your parents pay attention to you would be a problem," I said sarcastically, but I held my hands up in surrender when she glared at me. "Sorry. Keep going."

"The demigods became aware of their true nature a lot earlier. As soon as a demigod knows the truth about his or her birth, monsters can pick up the scent. Before their godly parents started checking in from birth, demigods could go their entire lives without ever knowing the truth. At the very least, kids were safe for the first few years after they were born. This gave the mortal parents time to bond with them before monsters started attacking. Mortal parents still weren't great about it, but most of them genuinely cared for their kids."

Annabeth drew a breath, like this was hard for her. I figured she'd probably seen a bunch of kids come through here with pretty terrible stories. "Now, however, demigods know almost right away something's not normal about them. Monsters attack while the demigods are too young to defend themselves, leaving defense up to their mortal parents. Most…well, most of the parents just aren't ready for that. They start to resent their kids, and they ask the gods to take them back."

"But the gods don't do that," I guessed. It was pretty obvious how this story was going to end. And like most myths, it didn't look like a happy ending.

"No. So demigods run away from home, or worse, their parents abandon them. Their godly parents usually try to get help as soon as they notice, but by that time…more often than not, it's too late. So you can see why this causes a little bit of resentment among the demigods."

"And why they're joining Kronos," I finished. I couldn't blame them. I wondered if my dad would ever have revealed himself to me if the other gods hadn't forced him to. If my mom hadn't cared for me, would I have been one of those demigods on the run for the last sixteen years? Or worse?

Annabeth nodded. "They're being led by my…by Luke, a son of Hermes." I got the feeling she was going to say something else there, but I didn't have time to ask. "Hermes kids kind of have it the worst. More of them have died than any other god's. They're too clever; they figure out their true nature too early."

"Even earlier than Athena kids?" I teased, unable to resist.

"No," she said coolly. "But _our_ mother is the goddess of battle strategy."

"Oh." I decided making me feel stupid was Annabeth's new favorite hobby.

"Anyway," she continued as if I hadn't spoken, "As their messenger, Hermes is always the busiest of the gods. And since he's also one of the bachelor gods, he has plenty of kids."

"So he doesn't have enough time to keep track of his kids, but he has plenty of time to have more kids?" I demanded just to be clear.

"You might want to watch the attitude while under his protection here," Annabeth warned me. "But you can see why his children might be a little…upset with him."

"Uh, yeah. Just a little." I was getting upset now, and it wasn't even my dad.

"Luke was more than 'a little' upset. Kronos offered him a chance to make things better for all the demigods by overthrowing the gods, and he took it."

"Because Kronos will make things so much better?" I asked disbelievingly. "The guy who ate his own children?"

Annabeth shrugged. "I didn't say I agreed, did I? I'm just telling you what Luke thinks."

"Well, if you ask me, this Luke guy sounds like a complete idiot," I said, disgusted. "Anyone who betrays his family because some evil Titan promises to make life better deserves everything he's got coming to him."

Annabeth's eyes flashed. "You don't have any idea what you're talking about. Personally I'd say anyone who takes over an hour to kill a hydra is a complete idiot, but you don't hear me talking about it, do you?"

"Wait, what—hey!" I was trying to figure out where this had all gone wrong. Up until now, we'd almost been getting along. She'd gone nearly ten minutes without threatening me, and I hadn't pointed out her superiority complex once.

She wasn't done, though. "Maybe you should just keep your mouth shut so the seaweed you inherited for brains doesn't have a chance to leak out, Perseus Jackson!" With that, she turned on her heel and stormed off toward the tents.

I just stood there. 'Seaweed for brains' should have been an incredibly lame insult, but for some reason it made me want to charge after her and challenge her to a sword fight. Then we'd see who had the seaweed for brains.

I sighed as I realized how dumb that sounded, even in my head. Looking around, I noticed I was by myself on the beach, my favorite place in the world. I darted another quick glance to where Annabeth had disappeared in case she'd decided to come back and apologize, but she was nowhere to be found. I shrugged. No one would miss me for a few minutes. I charged into the surf without even bothering to take off my clothes. One of the perks of being the son of Poseidon.

Besides, how badly could one quick swim to clear my head really hurt, anyway?

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, hopefully that clears up some of the ambiguity from chapter 1! Again, another special thank you to bibliophile114 for beta reading this one too. Anyone who can sift through pages of my unedited explanation and not hate me afterwards deserves quite a bit of thanks!  
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**Also, thank you to everyone who reviewed/favorited/alerted/read! It's always nice to know people are interested, especially when you're trying out an AU fic. I know those can be really hit and miss, so I appreciate the feedback to make sure this doesn't take a dive off the "miss" side…**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter 2! Thanks for reading!  
><strong>


	3. Tourist Season

**Quick disclaimer: This chapter (and the ones after it) contain references to "The Lost Hero," so be warned if you haven't read that yet! Other than that, I hope you enjoy!  
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><p><strong>Chapter 3: Tourist Season<strong>

As soon as my feet hit the water, I felt like all the worry and stress of the past few hours was washing out to sea with the tide. Corny, I know. And impossible, since I was staying completely dry by preventing the water from touching me. If I'd had a choice, I would have relaxed enough to let myself actually feel the water, but since I couldn't shake the feeling that I probably wasn't supposed to be charging off on my own like this, I definitely wasn't going to announce it by walking around camp dripping wet.

Thanks to the October weather, the water was cold, but that never bothered me. All it really did was ensure no one else was around to see me when I disappeared under the surface and sank to the ocean floor.

Since the cold gave me virtually unlimited privacy, I didn't need to go far to escape the camp. For a few minutes I just sat on the bottom of the ocean with my eyes closed, determined to enjoy my quick break from horrible prophecies and confusing girls. Any minute now someone would notice Annabeth had come back alone, and that couldn't be good. But I didn't let that bother me yet.

_My lord?_

My eyes jerked open and I was reaching for Riptide before I knew what was happening. When I saw a hippocampus swimming in front of me instead of the nightmarish Kronos I'd instinctively pictured, I relaxed. I couldn't see Kronos calling me "my lord" anyway, but you never knew. I hadn't even really heard of the guy until an hour ago. Maybe he was an evil Titan who was also big on flattery.

_Hi_, I answered with a smile. I liked the hippocampi for the most part. Not the brightest members of the animal kingdom, but as far as I was concerned, you couldn't go wrong with a half-fish, half-horse.

_Are you okay?_ The hippocampus seemed worried. I guess he wasn't used to seeing Poseidon's son ready to attack defenseless sea creatures. I'd have to watch that. Dad wouldn't be too happy if the newest rumor around the ocean was that I liked using hippocampi as target practice.

_Yeah_, I said with a sigh. _Just great._ It came out a lot more bitterly than I'd intended, so I tried to sound more upbeat. _It's just been a long day. I needed a break, you know?_

The hippocampus nodded, but he looked confused. Probably not a lot of anxiety in day-to-day hippocampus life. _Maybe I can help!_ He sounded so eager that for a minute he reminded me of my half-brother Tyson. That sent another pang of homesickness through me. Tyson loved the hippocampi. Whenever I was at Dad's palace, we'd always take a few minutes to play with them together.

_I don't think so, but thanks_, I said. _It's kind of a human problem._

The hippocampus brightened. _Humans? I know some humans! They chased away the fishing boats with their cruise ship!_

I grinned. So maybe tourists were good for something after all. _Nice! Maybe they can chase away all-powerful evil grandfathers too._

I'd been joking, but sarcasm didn't translate well from English to Hippocampi. _I'll bet they can! I'll go ask!_

The hippocampus was swimming away before I could call him back, but I didn't have the heart to stop him anyway. In fact, the idea of a hippocampus swimming around a cruise ship trying to convince shuffleboarders to help me defeat the Lord of Time made me laugh. I had to wonder what the Mist would make the mortals see. A normal seahorse? Poor guy.

I sighed again as I realized I'd probably been underwater long enough that someone had noticed I was gone by now. Reluctantly I started toward the surface. I had this irrational hope that my dad would suddenly appear to tell me it'd all been some terrible joke, and I was supposed to go straight home, but of course that didn't happen. Instead I broke the surface and dragged myself toward the empty beach. If anyone was looking for me, they hadn't gotten to the ocean yet.

Although the tents of the camp were really only a few feet from the beach, they looked impossibly far away. I felt like everything up until now had been some twisted dream and actually going to the camp would make it frighteningly real. I knew that wasn't true, though, and my mom would have told me I couldn't run from my problems anyway. I took a deep breath and, without letting myself think about what it meant, I felt the sand below my feet give way to solid grass. Maybe this was why my dad spent all his time underwater. The real world was way less cool.

I had to admit the camp was kind of interesting, though. It was obvious it was just temporary, but you could see traces of the previous, permanent camp sometimes. Some kids were sparring with swords in ruins that looked like they used to be an arena. A large house that had clearly seen better days sat at the edge of the collection of tents. All in all, the whole place gave off this vibe like it'd been planned by some crazy farmer with a weird Greek fixation and then abandoned for a few hundred years. There was absolutely nothing to suggest any sort of demigod connection, though. What might once have been a welcoming environment now felt…wrong. Like by being here we were violating some sacred rule, which I guess we probably were. Still, I couldn't help thinking if we were clearly violating the rule, why not go all the way and install some toilets already?

A bright fire burned merrily in the middle of the camp, and the young girl tending it smiled encouragingly at me. I smiled back, but I wasn't really feeling it. All I wanted to do right now was go home. But since that wasn't going to be an option for awhile, I decided instead my first order of business was to hunt down my assigned bunk. There were half a dozen tents dotted around the burning fire, though, and I had no way of knowing which one I should check. Again, I felt a flicker of annoyance at Annabeth. Wasn't she supposed to be showing me around?

"Lot to take in, huh?" said a voice beside me, and I turned abruptly to see the black-haired kid from earlier, Nico. Malcolm had said he was a few years younger than I was, but the permanent scowl on his face made him look older.

"Yeah," I replied shortly.

"Don't worry," he said. "Anyone here will tell you it gets easier after awhile. Of course, they'll be lying to you. But it's the thought that counts."

I stared at him, but there was a ghost of a smile on his face now. How he managed to do that without dropping the scowl, I had no idea. "Very funny."

"Who's being funny? I'm actually famous for being serious. _Dead_ serious." Now his whole mouth was twitching, like if he wasn't careful, he might actually smile.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Son of Hades, right?"

He looked surprised. "How'd you know that?" His scowl deepened. "Annabeth told you, didn't she?"

"No," I said honestly. I was tempted to lie and blame her anyway, but I figured that wasn't fair. I just wouldn't mention her brother had been the one to give Nico away. "To do that, she would be required to actually speak to me for more than ten seconds without yelling."

Nico nodded. "Yeah, she doesn't like you much, does she? You don't seem so bad to me. I must be missing something."

"Gee, thanks," I said dryly. "Seriously, what's her problem?"

Nico shrugged. "She's Annabeth."

I was about to tell him exactly how helpful that was when he waved me toward the tent at the far end of camp. "Come on, your stuff's this way."

I obediently followed his lead. As we walked, I couldn't help asking, "So why is everyone living like the wilderness club here?"

He turned to give me a blank look, unimpressed. I didn't think much impressed this kid, though, so I didn't feel bad. "The whole point of the camp is mobility. You never know when you'll have to pack up in a hurry. Besides, we're the kids of gods. We do have some advantages."

To prove his point, Nico lifted the flap on a normal canvas tent and stepped inside. I felt my jaw drop. The inside was _enormous_. It was lined with bunk beds on either side, and the back of the tent had a fountain and what looked like—I hoped—a bathroom. I could see what I thought was a thermostat by the fountain too. Although the tent was pretty sparsely furnished, the walls were decorated with various scenes out of Greek mythology. A giant depiction of Poseidon loomed over the bunk where my duffel bag was sitting, which was more than a little creepy. The beds themselves looked plain, but comfortable. I was relieved we weren't exactly roughing it. I had nothing against camping, but I'd never had any desire to join the Boy Scouts either. A few months without electricity might have convinced me to join Kronos no matter how I felt about the guy.

Nico stood next to me looking smug. "'Wilderness club,' huh?"

I decided not to dignify that with an answer. "I'm guessing this is my bed?" I said instead, pointing to the bunk with my duffel.

Nico nodded. "Yeah. We're mostly divided into tents by our godly parents."

I grinned. "So since I'm the only son of Poseidon, I get my own tent? Awesome!"

"Uh, no," Nico said, shaking his head. "Hold your horses."

It took me a minute to realize the kid had made another joke. I wondered if Hades had some sort of secret pun ability I'd never heard about before.

"Athena, Apollo, Ares, and Hermes get their own tents," he went on. "Athena, Apollo, and Hermes have the most kids, and no one wants to live with the Ares kids, so they each get their own. The rest of us split between the other two tents, since there aren't many of us at camp. We don't have the resources to give every kid his own tent, even if he is the son of Poseidon and the potential savior of the universe."

I shrugged and ignored the "savior of the universe" comment. Living by myself probably would've gotten old pretty quickly anyway. "So who else bunks here with me?"

"All the other guys at camp," Nico said. "The girls are in the last tent. Beckendorf's usually here; he's a son of Hephaestus. He's off somewhere with his Aphrodite girlfriend at the moment. I'm here, obviously. Darren—he's a son of Venus—"

"Wait, Venus? Isn't that just Aphrodite too?" I asked, cutting him off. I'd never really heard anyone talk about the Roman gods before. Once when I was little, I'd asked my dad if he was mad they'd named the planet "Neptune" instead of "Poseidon," but he'd just laughed and said he took what he could get.

"Not quite," Nico explained. "Some demigods are the children of the Roman aspects of the gods. They're born understanding Latin like we're born understanding Greek, and they're almost always a lot more disciplined, self-reliant, and, well, Roman."

I frowned. "But so far everyone's introduced themselves as Greek."

"Well, yeah." The look Nico gave me made me sure Annabeth had been giving him lessons. "That's 'cause you've only met Greek kids so far. We don't have a lot of Roman demigods. Darren and Hazel are the only ones who stay here permanently. There's a couple more at Camp Beta, because they like Lupa a lot more than they like Chiron, but that's about it. I mean, we don't know of many Greek demigods, but we know of virtually no Roman demigods."

"Because they're so much more self-reliant?" I asked, proud of myself for catching on.

"No," Nico said darkly, ruining both the mood and my self-confidence with one word. "Because the Roman aspects of the gods take 'survival of the fittest' _really_ seriously."

I swallowed hard. That was demigod-speak for "bad news." "Um, right. Okay. Not so many Romans. Got it. So is that everyone?"

Nico thought for a minute. "Yeah, I think that's everyone except Pollux. Mr. D brought Pollux to camp with him when his brother Castor was killed by a something-or-other monster. If I were you, I wouldn't mention it to him. Not a happy memory. We had a couple others, but they…didn't stick around long."

I was afraid to ask if that meant they'd joined Kronos or died, so I went with a different question. "Who's Mr. D?"

Nico grinned wickedly. "That's right; you haven't met our camp director yet. Just wait. You'll see."

His expression was less than reassuring. "Should I be worried?"

"Let's put it this way: he's the god of wine, and Zeus forced him into two hundred years of Alcoholics Anonymous as punishment a couple decades back."

I cringed. "Oh, great. What's he doing directing the camp?"

"Zeus offered to cut his sentence in half if he spent it here."

"So I guess even we're better than an extra hundred years of sobriety?"

"No," Nico replied. "He turned Zeus down. So Zeus made it mandatory. The gods needed someone on site to watch over all us problem demigods, and there was no way anyone else was going to volunteer for it. You might get a break, though. Mr. D left to go check on some minor gods a couple days ago, and that usually takes awhile."

I knew enough about my luck to know the chances of it holding like that were slim to none. "So are the other minor gods joining Kronos too? Malcolm mentioned some air spirits switching sides."

"You were talking to Malcolm?" Nico asked, and too late I realized he'd put it together. "Was _he_ the one who told you about me?"

Oops. "He might've mentioned it, yeah—"

"I wonder if he's more afraid of ghosts or zombies…" Nico muttered, and I made a mental note not to end up on this kid's bad side.

"Um, he really didn't say much, I swear," I added hurriedly. "Just that you were the son of Hades and another possible choice for the prophecy. And you had a half-sister who died after becoming a Hunter, whatever that means."

Nico's face hardened. "She wasn't my half-sister. And Malcolm should learn to keep his big mouth shut."

I winced. "I'm really sorry—"

"Forget it," he said through clenched teeth.

An awkward silence settled over the tent. "Well, it could be worse," I finally said. "You could be the one in charge of making sure the world doesn't end."

Nico shrugged. "Even my own dad doesn't want that. Me being the prophecy half-blood, I mean. Bianca was the one he liked."

He said it without emotion, like he was reading a fact from a book. After a minute I said lamely, "I'm sure that's not true."

"Yeah, it is. He never misses a chance to tell me. His last son didn't do so well on the world stage, you know?"

Once again, I decided not to ask. It seemed like a sore subject. "So are you upset you weren't the one from the prophecy?"

Nico frowned. "In the end, it didn't make a single bit of difference which of us was the one from the prophecy, did it? We all got treated like we might one day destroy the world. I mean, there were at least four other Big Three children ahead of me, and _still_ that stupid prophecy ruined my life. Zeus killed my mom over it, and if she hadn't died, Bianca would never have joined the Hunters and gotten herself killed. So no, Percy, I'm not upset I wasn't the one from the prophecy. I just wish the Oracle had kept the dumb thing to herself."

It was the most emotional I'd seen him get, and as soon as he was done speaking, his face slipped back into his usual detached scowl. "But no demigod gets a happy story, anyway."

"Perseus did," I blurted out before I could stop myself. I knew it sounded childish, but like my mom, I had clung to that growing up. Nico looked at me in pity, but he didn't contradict me.

"You never know," was all he said. Nico tugged at the aviator's jacket he was wearing. "You asked what Annabeth's problem with you was. You heard the prophecy?"

"Malcolm told me some of it," I answered. "And I know Annabeth thinks I really am going to destroy the world."

Nico nodded. "You're not going to believe this, and I probably shouldn't tell you, but she actually voted to kill you rather than rescue you today."

"No. How shocking," I said, deadpan.

He looked at me oddly. "Malcolm told you that too?"

"No," I said again. "Let's just say I can see it."

Nico shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, she's not usually this bad. Her dad's been sending her letters lately, though."

This caught my attention. "Her dad?"

"Yeah, her dad. Didn't Malcolm mention him?" When I shook my head, Nico huffed. "So he has no problem telling you my entire history, but he doesn't even mention his own sister's?"

"Hey, don't ask me," I said, holding up my hands in defense. "He mostly just talked about the prophecy. What's the deal with Annabeth's dad?"

"Oh, no way. Annabeth would kill me. She's scarier than a Sunday afternoon with my stepmom."

"You're the son of Hades. If anyone can cheat death at Annabeth's hand, you can. Besides, she apparently only wants to kill me," I said sourly.

"Wow. You're not gonna let that one go, are you?" Nico asked. When I glared at him, he smiled slightly. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were a son of Hades. Our hobbies include holding grudges and seeking revenge."

"That seems healthy," I said sarcastically. "So, come on. Spill. What's up with Annabeth? She got all ticked off and stormed away before I could ask her myself. I think that makes it okay for you to tell me instead."

Nico raised his eyebrows. "With logic like that, it's no wonder Athena loves you so much. I was wondering why you were all by yourself in the middle of camp. What'd you do to tick her off so badly?"

"Hey, why do you assume _I_ did anything?" I asked defensively. "She's just nuts! We were talking about gods and their kids, and she mentioned some guy betraying everyone to hang out with Kronos, so I said that made him an idiot. And suddenly I was the bad guy, not the traitor who wants to overthrow the gods and end civilization!"

"You said Luke was an idiot?" Nico asked. I nodded. _Luke_, that was his name. "Yeah, see, we don't mention Luke around Annabeth."

"Hey, she brought him up!" I protested.

"She does that sometimes," Nico agreed vaguely. I stared at him like he was crazy too. He was acting like her behavior was perfectly normal. Maybe that's what this camp did to you: turned you into a nutcase.

Nico must have caught my expression, because he exhaled loudly and said, "Okay, I'll tell you what I know about Annabeth's past if you swear you won't tell her I told you. And keep in mind if you break that oath, I have entire legions of undead warriors at my command."

Of course he did. "I swear," I promised. "So what's her deal? Why does her dad writing letters mean she wants to kill me?"

"It's kind of hard to explain," Nico started. Then, seeing my face, he hurried to add, "But I'll try my best. I just wanted you to know it deserved a disclaimer. And if I get any of it wrong, Malcolm told you."

I nodded impatiently. Every minute we wasted was another minute I was expecting Annabeth to come bursting in, claiming that hearing about her past invalidated the gods' protection and gave her permission to kill me. Oh well, at least I'd probably get to see her smile again. Killing me seemed to have that effect on her.

"Athena gives her children as gifts to men she's attracted to intellectually. Athena kids aren't really born. There's this weird 'created from thoughts' thing that happens, and before you ask, I have no idea how it works. Something about how Athena herself was born. Not a process you really want to question."

I gladly took his word for that.

"Anyway, as smart as Athena's chosen men are, they're not usually the best parents. Annabeth's dad…well, he was one of the worst. Apparently as brilliant as he was, he was also extremely scatterbrained. Annabeth told me a story once about how he took her to a playground and got distracted by a plane overhead. He left her there, completely forgetting he even had a daughter. Her dad had been begging Athena to take Annabeth away ever since she'd been dropped off on his doorstep, but Athena refused. Then when Annabeth was five, her dad got married, and that just made things worse. Her stepmom definitely hadn't been expecting a half-god stepdaughter, and because Annabeth is a child of Athena, monsters attacked all the time. Athena's kids always figure out they're half-bloods before they hit age seven, so monsters have usually been tracking them for a couple years before Athena first officially visits them."

"I get it. She had a terrible childhood," I interrupted. "But why does it give her license to go around voting for people's deaths?"

"Hey, let's get one thing straight: I never said it gave her license for anything," Nico said fiercely. "We all have lives that stink worse than a hellhound's breath. It doesn't mean you get to go around murdering people. If I'm not allowed to do it, Annabeth's not allowed to do it either."

"Um…" I wasn't sure what to say to that. "So…Annabeth doesn't get along with her dad, huh?"

"That's putting it mildly," Nico said wryly. "Annabeth has two younger mortal half-brothers, and a particularly nasty monster attack destroyed their first birthday party. She heard her parents arguing about what to do with her, and her stepmom suggested sending her away. Before they'd even finished talking, Annabeth had left."

"Seriously? Like 'left' as in 'ran away?'" I asked in shock. "Wasn't she like seven years old?"

"Six," Nico corrected me. "Even for a daughter of Athena the odds weren't good. So her mom broke the rules."

"What, by helping her daughter not die?" I asked. These rules seemed a little harsh. No wonder Kronos was having such an easy time recruiting demigods. If he was running on an "I won't sit back and watch you die" platform, he'd be winning votes right and left.

"Yes. More specifically, by guiding Annabeth toward help. Demigod help."

"And that was okay?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Of course it wasn't. Zeus was furious. Demigods aren't supposed to know other demigods even exist, and Athena had just handed her daughter over to two half-bloods. The only thing that saved them was that one of the demigods was Thalia, Zeus' daughter."

He sighed. "Apparently it was only a temporary solution, though. My dad was still mad about Zeus killing my mom, so he sent wave after wave of monsters after Thalia. Since Zeus had tried to kill his children, my dad had no problem going after the only kid of Zeus he could find. And he has the nerve to lecture _me_ on holding grudges," Nico grumbled.

"So what happened? Malcolm mentioned something about Thalia and a tree. What's the deal with that?" I demanded, trying not to panic. Being a kid of the Big Three was not sounding like a solid life plan.

"Well…" Nico hesitated for a minute. "They survived fine for a couple years. This was before the camps had been set up, so they just fought their way along the east coast. Annabeth rarely talks about it, but when she does, she makes it sound like they were their own little family: Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke."

I stared at him. "Wait, Luke as in evil bad guy Luke?"

Nico nodded. "He took care of Annabeth when she was little. So, yeah. We don't mention him in front of her. She took his betrayal pretty hard."

"And he just abandoned her and Thalia?" I was liking this guy less and less.

"Kind of." Nico scrunched up his nose. "There was this giant wave of monsters one day, and they couldn't hold them off. Thalia was sick of putting Annabeth and Luke in danger, so she made Luke take Annabeth while she stayed behind to fight and give them enough time to reach safety. Luke came back to help, but by that point it was too late. Thalia had been overrun, and her dad had turned her into a pine tree as a last blessing."

I tried to imagine what my dad's last blessing would have been. A clump of seaweed or something, probably. Annabeth would have loved that. "How do you know all this?" I asked incredulously. "Annabeth didn't seem like the sharing type to me. Or is that just because she hates me?"

"She doesn't hate you," Nico said, although I found that hard to believe. In my experience, "I want to kill you" usually had at least a little hate behind it. "And I know it through Thalia. She was un-tree-ed a couple years back; Luke freed her to give Kronos a chance to control the prophecy. Thalia's older than you, so she would have reached sixteen first. But instead she joined the Hunt with Artemis, so she never ages. She's stuck at like one day from sixteen or something. I think Thalia's with her brother at Camp Beta right now, but you might get to meet her eventually. She usually drops by to check on Annabeth occasionally."

"Who supposedly doesn't hate me," I repeated in disbelief, since I was sure Nico didn't understand how Annabeth worked at all.

"No," Nico insisted. "You don't get it, Percy. I don't think you _can_ get it."

"Excuse me?" I couldn't help being a little offended. I was getting sick of people calling me dumb. "What is there not to get? She's insane and she wants me dead. Open and shut."

"Percy, I saw you with your mom. I even saw you with your dad. Do you know how many of us would kill for parents like yours?" Nico winced. "Sorry. 'Kill' was a bad choice of words there. But still. Your mom loves you. Your dad fought the gods to keep a prophecy from you so you could be happy. I'd give anything for my dad just to say he's not disappointed I was born!"

I stood there with my mouth hanging open. I had no idea what to say that wouldn't sound completely stupid. He was right, I realized. The worst I'd ever had to deal with was my mom forcing me to clean the monster dust from the living room carpet. By demigod standards, my life had been pretty much perfect so far. Of course, now I was facing a doomsday prophecy likely to kill me, so I figured that made up for it at least a little.

Nico took a breath and continued. "Anyway, Annabeth doesn't hate you. Really. But I think she hates that you got what the rest of us didn't, so she's looking for excuses to make your life miserable too. It doesn't help that your fatal flaw is that you're too nice a guy, Percy. It's not easy for her to take."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "So I should be more of a jerk?"

"Couldn't hurt," he said with a grin. "But I think most of the problem is that Athena is set against you as the hero of the prophecy. Annabeth would never admit it, but she's desperate to live up to her mother's expectations. Especially since Athena broke the rules for Annabeth back when she was six, and Annabeth knows the gods blame that for upsetting the balance of the universe, maybe even enough to tip the scales in Kronos' favor. So Annabeth is working tirelessly to set things right for her mother. I think it's the only reason she didn't join Luke in the first place."

I took a minute to process everything. I couldn't exactly forgive Annabeth for wanting to kill me, but it was harder to blame her for it too.

"All right," I said at last. "So I just have to convince her I'm worth more alive than dead."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Nico didn't sound optimistic. "If it helps, the odds are basically stacked entirely against you. You're pretty much guaranteed to destroy the world."

"How would that possibly help?"

Nico shrugged. "Annabeth has a thing for underdogs. If you ask for help, she probably won't be able to resist."

I considered that. If nothing else, she was the daughter of Athena. I could at least find out the ways I was most likely to destroy the world.

"Thanks," I told Nico. He waved it off, like he was above gratitude too. I was about to leave the tent when something stopped me. "Hey, why does Annabeth go to school? My mom said demigods had to be home-schooled so we didn't endanger mortals."

Nico looked at me like I'd grown an extra head. "What are you talking about? Annabeth doesn't go to school. It's forbidden. Chiron teaches all the older campers here."

"Oh. Maybe I misunderstood her…" I was pretty sure I hadn't, though. I'd have to ask her about it later. Annabeth didn't seem to have much trouble ignoring the word "forbidden."

"Must have," Nico agreed. "Now leave. I'm going to be busy pretending I don't know you, since I have zero faith in your ability to talk to Annabeth without giving away everything I told you. I prefer visiting the Underworld on my own terms, thank you very much."

"Whatever," I said with a grin. I watched him flop on the bunk opposite mine and pull out a stack of trading cards. So he was a kid after all.

I was so busy laughing at Nico that I wasn't paying attention on my way out of the tent, and I smacked headfirst into a very familiar satyr.

"Grover!" I couldn't hide how happy I was to see my best friend. "What's up, man? What was with that Council thing? I was worried—"

"No time," Grover gasped, like he'd been running for hours. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to where Chiron was standing with Annabeth.

"How can you not know where Percy is?" Chiron was asking her as we ran toward them. "I deliberately placed him in your care—"

"I found him! He's right here!" Grover managed between pants, pushing me in their direction.

"Um, hi?" I waved awkwardly. "Looking for me?"

"Where have you been?" Chiron demanded urgently. "To whom have you spoken?"

I looked at him, startled. "Nowhere. I mean, I was just talking to Nico, that's all."

Chiron looked worried. "And no one else?"

"No, not since Annabeth—I mean, not since I talked to Annabeth. What's going on?" I tried to stop my heart from racing, but it was clear something was very wrong.

"You should not have left him alone!" Chiron told Annabeth angrily. I expected her to protest, but she just hung her head. I wondered if maybe Athena's wasn't the only approval Annabeth wanted.

"I know," she said softly. "I'm sorry. But I think we need to consider the possibility of a spy in camp."

Chiron sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Perhaps. This is not the welcome I had hoped to give you, Percy."

"What's going on?" I asked again, more insistently.

It was Grover who finally told me. "Kronos' cruise ship is on the beach, Percy. And they're demanding we turn you over to them before they destroy camp."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry that ends on kind of a cliffhanger, but otherwise this chapter would have been about 80 pages long...as always, special thanks goes to bibliophile114 for continuing to beta read! I know how much time and effort it can take, especially with stories like these. I really do appreciate you! :)  
><strong>

**Also, thank you again to everyone who reviewed/favorited/alerted/read! I know how much time and effort THAT can take too, so I promise I appreciate you as well!  
><strong>

****Thanks for reading!** **


	4. Be Careful What You Swear

**Chapter 4: Be Careful What You Swear**

I knew Grover was waiting for some sort of reaction from me. I was probably supposed to be freaking out that Kronos was here. But for some reason my brain was stuck on two words.

"'Cruise ship?'" I repeated stupidly.

Grover studied me with concern. "Must be in shock," I heard him mutter. Then he said very deliberately, "YES, PERCY. A CRUISE SHIP. A _BAD_ CRUISE SHIP."

I winced. "I heard you the first time. You don't need to yell."

Grover was about to respond when Chiron broke in. "I'm sorry, my boy. Somehow they were able to track you here. I thought we had taken every precaution to ensure you were not spotted, but we must have been mistaken. I sincerely apologize."

"Um, yeah, you know, no problem," I stammered awkwardly. I could feel my ears heating up. What were the chances this cruise ship was completely unrelated to the cruise ship the hippocampus had run off to ask for help?

Somewhere around zero. Demigods didn't believe in coincidences. At least, not for long.

"You spoke only to Nico?" Chiron questioned me, and I nodded dumbly. Chiron turned to Annabeth. "You know Nico well. Could his resentment over the death of his sister have driven him to join Kronos' ranks?"

"You think Nico could be a spy?" Annabeth asked with a frown. "I can't see it, no, but—"

"Nico isn't a spy!" I blurted out. I knew keeping my mouth shut was probably my best option here, but I couldn't let the kid go down for something I'd done. Even if I _was_ about to get kicked out of camp and turned over to Kronos' minions.

Chiron looked at me curiously. "What makes you so sure, Percy?"

I swallowed nervously, and in desperation I glanced at Annabeth. It was a seriously stupid thing to do. The minute my eyes met hers, I saw recognition flicker across her face as she registered my guilty expression. Not that it mattered much at this point, but still. I was proving everything she'd said right. It might have been selfish, but I had been hoping to die with just a little dignity. Too late for that now.

I opened my mouth to spill all the details of my unauthorized swim when Annabeth beat me to it. Seriously, how hard was it to let me end this on my own terms?

"I'm sorry, Chiron, I think this might be all my fault," she said. My head snapped in her direction, but her expression was unreadable. How was she going to follow this up? Something like, "I let Percy out of my sight, and he's an idiot?"

"How so?" asked Chiron suspiciously.

Annabeth grimaced. "On my way back to camp earlier, I ran into two _dracaenae_. I managed to kill one, but there's a chance I might have let it slip that I was looking for Percy before the other one took off."

My jaw dropped as I stared at her. That had to be a total lie. But what could possibly make _her_ lie for me?

"Annabeth!" Chiron scolded her. "You knew how important that mission was!"

"Like I said, it just slipped out. I'm really sorry, Chiron," she said sincerely, giving him this pathetic wounded puppy dog look.

Apparently it worked. Chiron sighed. "Why didn't you mention this earlier, Annabeth?"

She shrugged. "I didn't think of it at the time. You know how it is during a fight. You aren't worried about things like that."

I'm not sure Chiron was completely convinced, but he must have decided he didn't have time to question her. He shook his head. "We'll have to discuss this later. The most important thing right now is to get Percy out of camp."

"No!" I said forcefully, panicking. For some reason I couldn't get the image of Annabeth's younger brother and sister arguing out of my head. "If you don't hand me over, he'll destroy camp! You can't let that happen! I'll go, and he'll leave camp alone—"

"No, Percy," Annabeth interrupted me calmly. "If Luke could destroy camp, he would have done it way before now. He doesn't have the manpower. The gods' protection keeps out everything but demigods, and the fact that Luke is waiting on the ship instead of taking you by force means he hasn't recruited enough demigods yet. He might be able to overwhelm the borders, but that will take time. We can evacuate everyone well before that happens."

"If Kronos were able to get his hands on _you_, however," Chiron took over, "he would have a significant advantage. He might even have full control of the prophecy. We cannot allow that to happen. You must leave camp immediately."

I started to protest that I had no intention of running away, but Chiron ignored me and turned to Annabeth again. "You know the San Francisco area well?"

Annabeth wrinkled her nose. "Well enough," she said distastefully, like it wasn't something she was proud of.

"And if you should encounter trouble, you would be able to contact your—"

Annabeth cut him off. "It won't come to that."

Chiron gave her a look. "This is serious, Annabeth."

She glared at him. "You think I don't know that?" she snapped. When Chiron kept looking at her, she relented. "Sorry. Yeah, if it's necessary. _Absolutely_ necessary."

"Um, excuse me? Half-blood of the prophecy here?" I waved to get their attention. "Maybe someone wants to fill me in _before_ we start running for our lives this time?"

Instead of explaining, Chiron's eyes narrowed. "How do you know about the prophecy?"

I blinked. "Uh…what I meant to say was, why ruin perfectly good running with explanations?"

Chiron's eyes narrowed even further. "Percy—"

"He's right," Annabeth said unexpectedly. I stared at her again. Not that I was complaining that she was agreeing with me or anything, but there had to be a catch somewhere, right? "We need to move. Luke helped build camp. If anyone can find a way around the gods' protection, he can."

If I hadn't known better, I'd say she sounded almost proud of the guy. I let out a disgusted sigh before I could stop myself.

"Anyway," Annabeth continued, pointedly glaring at me, "it's only a matter of time before Luke invades. We need to be long gone by then."

Chiron nodded reluctantly. "The only other safe haven is Camp Beta. Luke has never been to Beta, correct?"

Annabeth nodded slowly. "He wasn't involved in the planning at all, and it should have been shrouded from casual observation even if he did have a rough location. But Chiron, if even one former Beta camper has joined Kronos' forces…"

She didn't finish the thought, but I understood. Anyone who'd stayed at Camp Beta could lead Luke straight there.

Chiron suddenly looked very tired. "We have no choice. Lupa has not reported any missing campers. We must trust her demigods remain under her control."

Annabeth didn't look too reassured, but she didn't comment on it. "Then we'll leave at once. Both Percy and Nico?"

"Yes," Chiron agreed. "Above all, they cannot fall victim to Kronos. You must swear to protect them with your life."

Annabeth looked uncomfortable at this, and I knew why. She'd have no problem protecting Nico, but swearing to protect me would mean going against Athena's plans. I hesitated for just a minute before I stepped in.

"No," I said decisively. I could feel Grover's disapproval, but my eyes never left Annabeth's face. "You can't promise that. If it comes down to us or civilization, civilization wins hands down. If you think it's necessary, you sacrifice us. I trust your judgment."

It might have been an incredibly dumb thing to say, but I figured the only thing I knew for sure about this girl was that she was willing to die if she thought it'd help save the world. You couldn't beat that kind of commitment.

A minute passed and no one said anything. Finally Annabeth seemed to come to some sort of decision. She took a deep breath.

"I swear on the River Styx to do everything in my power to protect Percy Jackson." She paused briefly, and a mischievous glint appeared in her gray eyes. "From Kronos, that is."

I couldn't help it. I laughed.

* * *

><p>Less than five minutes later, Annabeth had assembled our cross-country group. I was surprised to see it basically consisted of my original extraction team. According to Annabeth, the team had been chosen in the first place as the best of the best. This prophecy thing was serious.<p>

Aside from being an amazing archer, Will was the best healer in camp, although I wasn't sure I was too thrilled that we were planning on needing a healer. The Stoll brothers turned out to be indispensible too, because not only were they decent sword fighters, they were also the sons of the god of travelers and thieves. "We meant god of merchants!" they corrected themselves hastily when Annabeth raised her eyebrows at "thieves." I expected everyone to be wary since they were Luke's brothers, but no one said anything. I wondered if maybe Annabeth had invited them along just to keep an eye on them.

Nico was coming with us too. Annabeth had originally split up Nico and me, putting him in a group with Malcolm and a couple other campers. Then Annabeth and Malcolm had talked it over briefly and decided there was safety in numbers. Nico didn't look any more comfortable with that than I was, though. We both knew what "safety in numbers" really meant: more people to protect us in case something went wrong. Small groups were easier to hide. Big groups were better for a fight. Annabeth and Malcolm were expecting trouble, and they were not designing a strategy to ensure everyone made it to Camp Beta safely. They were designing a strategy to make sure Nico and I made it.

Nico had scowled at Annabeth when she rearranged the groups, but she'd pretended not to notice. Or maybe she was just used to him scowling constantly. Either way, despite our protests, we had a small army surrounding us by the time we were ready to leave. Malcolm was reassigned to oversee the remaining evacuation plans at camp, so instead a huge African-American dude joined us. Annabeth introduced him quickly as Charles Beckendorf, confirming he was the one Nico had mentioned earlier. But I didn't get a chance to greet him at all, since Beckendorf's lips looked permanently glued to a gorgeous brunette. He didn't seem anxious to leave either. I couldn't blame the guy.

"Silena!" Malcolm called, and a few seconds later, the brunette pulled away from Beckendorf with one last quick hug.

"Be safe, Charlie," I heard her whisper as she ran over to where Malcolm was talking to Annabeth. Beckendorf caught me staring at him as she left, but he just shrugged.

"For the record, you're only allowed to call me 'Charlie' if you plan on kissing me," he said good-naturedly.

"Um, I'm good," I answered without hesitation. I held out my hand. "Percy Jackson."

He shook my hand firmly, and I tried to stop myself from cringing. The guy was _strong_. "Beckendorf. Son of Hephaestus. Need anything forged?"

"Can't think of anything, thanks," I replied. I saw Annabeth wave me over, and Beckendorf grinned.

"C'mon, can't keep a pretty girl waiting, can you?" He winked at me, and I'm sure I blushed.

"If I did, she'd probably stab me," I said wryly. "See ya."

I jogged over to Annabeth just in time to hear her give Malcolm and Silena the final instructions for getting the youngest campers out of danger. Malcolm nodded.

"Don't worry, we got this. Luke won't care about them anyway," Malcolm assured her, but Annabeth wasn't satisfied.

"You don't know him," she said ominously. "Don't underestimate Luke. Or Kronos, for that matter. I'm still not convinced this wasn't his plan all along, knowing we'd have to leave immediately, but otherwise we're sitting ducks…"

"You worry too much, sis." Malcolm grinned at her. She rolled her eyes when he said "sis," although I don't think she was really that annoyed. She abruptly pulled him into a hug, but she stepped back before he'd even had a chance to react.

"Stay alert. Ask yourself what Mom would do," Annabeth advised.

Malcolm's grin grew. "You mean turn everyone who disagrees with us into spiders?"

It was Silena's turn to roll her eyes. "I'll keep him out of trouble," she promised. "Now go."

"Yeah, go," Malcolm said. He started to walk away but stopped to call back hesitantly, "And keep in mind that Mom's been wrong before." His eyes slid to me, but he was running back toward the camp before Annabeth could respond.

"Smart aleck," she muttered. She turned to me. "Is that what you're wearing?"

I was completely unprepared for that. I looked down at my t-shirt and jeans. "Um, yes? It's been working fine so far," I said defensively.

Annabeth grunted noncommittally. "Hmm. Well, we have one last stop before we leave anyway."

"What's that?" I asked. "I thought we were in kind of a hurry."

"We don't have a choice. We have to consult the Oracle."

Something about the way she said it raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

"What does that mean?" I asked nervously.

"You'll see," was her cryptic response. She started walking toward the dilapidated farmhouse, and I struggled to catch up to her. I tried a couple times to ask where we were going, but she just told me to be quiet and hurry up. She paused for a split second when she reached the house, giving me a chance to hope we weren't actually going in. No such luck. She charged ahead, despite the ten thousand building codes this place had to be violating.

I tried not to think about things like building codes or how much weight the stairs could still hold as Annabeth continued up to the attic. I followed more cautiously, meaning she was tapping her foot impatiently on the landing when I finally decided the stairs were safe enough to use. Hey, she could be as impatient as she wanted. There was no way I could face Hades knowing I'd been finished by a flight of stairs. That didn't exactly make you Elysium material.

Once I got to the landing, Annabeth took a deep breath and started up the ladder to the attic. This wasn't encouraging, but I followed her anyway. I figured it'd be easier to face whatever horrors were at the top of the ladder with two people rather than one. That and abandoning Annabeth now would probably have completely erased whatever goodwill I'd managed to earn.

As I reached the attic, I braced myself for the worst. "Oracle" brought to mind creepy, eerie prophecies. The kind that promised your death and the destruction of the universe, or dangerous quests through hostile territory, or…

…Or paint-splattered canvases? The attic looked more like Picasso's apartment than a prophetess' hideaway.

"Annabeth!" someone squealed, and suddenly a redheaded girl was running toward us. She was so paint-splattered herself that I'd thought she was part of the scenery. Annabeth winced and held her hands away from her body.

"Hi, Rachel. Ten foot rule if you've been painting," she said sternly, like this was a routine they'd been through many times before.

Rachel stuck out her lip. "Fine. Ooh, and who's this?" she asked, turning to appraise me like some rare painting.

I shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, I'm Percy Jackson." I stuck out my hand, but Rachel declined, holding up her own hands apologetically to show they were covered with wet paint.

"I'm Rachel, the Oracle. I thought maybe that was you. Annabeth didn't mention you were cute, though," Rachel said, grinning at the other girl.

To my surprise, Annabeth colored. "I didn't meet him until today. How could I possibly have known anything about how he looked?"

Rachel shrugged. "Still, you will definitely make a cute couple."

"Watch the tense choice, Dare," Annabeth warned with a glare. "I think you mean 'you would.'"

Rachel beamed. "Oh, so you think so too?"

My eyes kept bouncing back and forth from one girl to the other like I was watching a tennis match. I decided to cut in before Annabeth could answer just to save myself the headache.

"I hate to interrupt," I lied, "but I think we're kind of under a time crunch here. And Annabeth said we have to consult you before we can leave."

Rachel looked surprised. "You're leaving already?"

Annabeth nodded. From the look she was giving Rachel, I thought maybe the Oracle should be grateful we were leaving as quickly as we were. "Luke's on the beach. They want Percy. We're not sure if they know Nico's here too, but if Kronos had access to any child of the Big Three…"

"Bad news," Rachel agreed. "Okay, what do you need?"

It was my turn to be surprised. "Aren't you just supposed to spout a prophecy at us? I mean, that's what the Oracle always did in the stories."

Annabeth laughed. Until now, I hadn't even been sure she _could_ laugh. Before she could say anything, though, Rachel held up a hand and began speaking in a deep voice.

"_Under attack the camp shall fall,_

_Half-bloods race to answer the call,_

_The long-awaited prophecy holds the key_

_Even as campers rush to flee—"_

Suddenly she stopped. "Shoot, what rhymes with 'gullible son of Poseidon'?"

Annabeth laughed harder. "You could've gone with 'gullible spawn of the sea.'"

"Aw, why didn't I think of that?"

It took me a minute to catch on. "Hey!"

"It's okay, your rhyme scheme was way off at the end anyway."

"What, Athena's the goddess of rhyming couplets now? I wasn't going for Poet Laureate status there."

"There's no reason to slack off just because he's an easy target—"

"Hey!" I said, louder. I scowled at them. "Kronos is on the beach, in case you've forgotten. I don't think he's taking time to make fun of me!"

Rachel's brow furrowed. "He might be. That's kind of a Kronos-y thing to do. He's a monologuer."

"No, Seaweed Brain's right," Annabeth said. I scowled harder at her. "Well, if you didn't have seaweed for brains, I wouldn't have any cause to use that, would I? Anyway, you need to grab your stuff and come with us. We definitely can't leave you here."

Rachel looked disappointed. "But I was right in the middle of…" She caught Annabeth's expression and gave up. "Okay, fine. I'm coming."

"Good." Annabeth motioned me back down the ladder as Rachel wiped her hands on a towel and ripped off her painting smock. Annabeth grabbed a packed bag sitting at the top of the ladder before following me down.

As we reached the landing, Annabeth held the bag up to Rachel. "Expecting us?"

"More like expecting this camp. Seems like something terrible's going down every week these days."

Annabeth didn't argue. We made our way out of the house to the assembled evacuation group. They looked like any typical kids ready for a camping trip, assuming those kids were dressed in Greek armor. I suddenly realized why Annabeth had asked about my clothes earlier.

"I don't have any armor!" I told her.

She was giving me that _Percy-is-stupid_ look again. "I know. That's why we had to consult Rachel."

"Huh?"

Rachel stepped forward. "Wardrobe director here! In a manner of speaking, of course. I've been helping with some new armor designs, but they're nowhere near ready. No problem, though, since I've got some old armor that should fit you fine."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a breast plate and a helmet. "Try these. They look about right to me."

"Whoa, you really are psychic," I said, impressed. "How'd you know I was going to need armor?"

Rachel smiled. "I'm just that good."

Annabeth cleared her throat. "And she got the coveted 'wardrobe director' position partly due to her magic bag, which has plenty of room to keep a couple spare sets of armor for emergencies."

Rachel sighed in exasperation. "Well, that pretty much ruins the entire mystery. Did you know Annabeth has a magic baseball cap that turns her invisible?"

I stopped to stare at Annabeth. "So you _did_ appear out of thin air! That's why I didn't see you!"

Annabeth pursed her lips. "Thanks, Rachel. Really. Thanks. Any other advantages you want to ruin for us?"

"Hey, you started it," Rachel pointed out reasonably. "Besides, we're all on the same side here, right?"

She smiled brightly and slung an arm around each of our shoulders. The way she said it, though, made me think she was well aware of Annabeth's aborted attempt to kill me somehow. Definitely at least a little psychic.

"Right," Annabeth and I murmured in unison.

"That's what I thought!" Rachel said cheerfully. "Now let's go run for our lives. I haven't done that in, like, three weeks!"

* * *

><p>Five minutes later, we were trudging through the woods to sneak away from camp. Grover had joined us just before we left, but he was avoiding me for some reason. I let him have his space, since I figured he wasn't going to be able to avoid me for long on a cross-country trip with only seven other people. I could wait. He'd seemed depressed ever since the mysterious "Council" meeting. Sooner or later he'd tell me what was up. Grover wasn't exactly fantastic at keeping secrets. Well, except for that whole "you're the only demigod in the world" thing.<p>

Since Grover wouldn't talk to me, and I was walking right beside Annabeth, I decided to bug her instead.

"So why'd you lie to Chiron about the cruise ship earlier?" I asked her curiously.

Annabeth stopped scanning the woods around us with narrowed eyes to glare briefly at me. "You don't really get the concept of stealth, do you?" she hissed.

"Oh, come on. Everyone's focused on camp. If ADHD really is a trademark of demigods, you're just as bored as I am." As I said it, though, I wondered. Maybe that was just children of Poseidon? My mom hadn't really been clear, and I'd never thought to clarify. Hadn't seemed too important when I thought I'd never meet another demigod.

But apparently I'd guessed right. "If by 'bored' you mean 'desperately trying to keep you alive,' then yes. My ADHD is making me bored as Hades."

"There's no battle," I pointed out. "Even I can manage staying alive when there's no fighting. Besides, we left like right away. No way Kronos is _that_ good."

This time she focused on me long enough to make sure I saw her roll her eyes. "Says the guy who only found out about him an hour ago. Fought a lot of millennia-old Titans, have you, Percy?"

She had a point. I chose to ignore that. "Stop avoiding the question," I said.

"Likewise," she replied, raising her eyebrows.

I ignored that point too. Instead I stopped, forcing her to pull up and focus on me while the rest of our group went on ahead. "Come on," I pressed. "You had to have known it was my fault. Why'd you lie?"

Annabeth blew a stray curl out of her face without letting her eyes leave the trees in front of us. Will, the camper protecting our flank, gestured at us to hurry up, but Annabeth just waved him ahead. Reluctantly he disappeared into the forest, leaving us completely alone. For the first time, though, I wasn't afraid alone time with Annabeth was going to end in me dying. I considered that progress.

Finally Annabeth sighed. "I don't know why I made up that stupid story," she said at last. I stared at her in disbelief. It was obvious she did know; whatever skills they taught at camp, lying clearly wasn't one of them. I was about to call her on it when she kept going. "I guess, _maybe_—" she paused to draw a breath. "_Maybe_ I owed you."

I tried to stop the grin spreading across my face, but she was refusing to look at me, and that made it pretty much impossible. "What was that? I'm not sure I heard you."

Annabeth clenched her teeth. "Then you should've been paying more attention."

"He's not the only one."

I felt the point of a sword under my chin at the same time Riptide was jerked from my hand. I found myself staring into the smirking face of a blond college kid. I might have called him handsome if he hadn't had a vicious-looking scar running the whole way down one side of his face. And if he hadn't been holding a deadly weapon, waiting to cut off my head. That didn't help much.

"I'm so disappointed, Annabeth," he continued with mock disapproval. "I thought I'd taught you better than that."

Annabeth's response would've gotten me grounded for a week.

The guy's face hardened, his smirk turning cruel. "For your sake, I'm going to assume Chiron's been brainwashing you again."

"I suppose it takes one to know one," Annabeth replied coolly. "Read any good Kronos propaganda lately?"

I gaped at her. Did she really think it was wise to egg on the guy with the sword? She clearly didn't take after her mom in the battle strategy department.

I could feel the blade at my throat begin to shake. She was making him mad. I searched desperately for some way to take him down before he could start hacking at Annabeth, but he had Riptide. Whoever designed my sword seriously needed to think about changing the "reappears in your pocket" feature to include situations where it's taken by the enemy.

"I think you might want to take that back. Before I stop being generous with your little boyfriend's life here," the guy said menacingly, although he didn't have to try too hard. The sword was doing a lot of the work for him on the menacing front.

"You won't kill him," Annabeth said confidently. Easy for her to say. She wasn't the one with the weapon at her neck. I couldn't help noticing she hadn't corrected him on the boyfriend comment, though. But this probably wasn't the best time to be thinking about things like that. "You need him, because you know _you_ of all people can never be the hero of the prophecy."

The guy didn't take this well. "The gods are the ones who proclaim 'heroes.' I'd rather die than claim that _honor_," he spat.

Annabeth scoffed. "Because you know you'll never be worthy. Heroes don't abandon their family—"

That did it. Suddenly the sword was gone from my throat and the guy was lunging at Annabeth. It was clear he had some serious skills, and she just barely managed to get her knife up in time to block his blow. But he not only had his sword; he also had mine, and apparently somewhere he'd learned to fight effectively with two weapons. It looked like something out of a ninja movie, which might have been cool if I weren't watching helplessly.

Suddenly I saw Annabeth's eyes flash at me. Whatever her plan was, I was currently messing it up. When she mouthed "_Run!"_ at me, I finally caught on. She was drawing his attention so I could escape.

Yeah, that was so not happening. I picked up the closest thing I could find: a rock. I was never going to be a major league pitcher, but I had decent enough aim to whack the guy in the head. It disoriented him long enough for Annabeth to get under his armor in an amazing move and sink her knife into his shoulder.

Or at least, that's what should have happened. Instead the blade ricocheted, like it'd struck stone rather than skin. Who _was_ this guy?

Annabeth clutched her arm while the guy smirked again. "Weren't expecting that, were you? I thought I warned you about paying attention."

"I'm not sure you really qualify as an expert there, Luke."

I saw a flash of silver, and then Luke was on his back. My jaw hit the ground as a black-haired girl about my age wearing a silver jacket put one foot on Luke's chest and used her other foot to kick aside both swords. It almost seemed too easy. Another blond boy the same age quickly bent and picked up the weapons. He glanced at me before turning to Annabeth.

"I'm guessing one of these is his?" he asked, jerking his head toward me.

Was it so hard to ask me himself? "Uh, yeah, that one," I said, pointing to Riptide.

I thought he'd just hand it over, but he didn't move. He didn't even acknowledge that I'd spoken, which seemed a little rude to me. He raised an eyebrow at Annabeth, who nodded.

"Yeah, that's his," she confirmed. Her mouth twitched, like she was enjoying this.

Finally the kid looked at me critically, sizing me up. "Here," he said, tossing me the sword. I caught it in one hand, but he didn't seem too impressed. "It's a nice blade. Next time don't let the enemy steal it."

"I didn't _let_ anyone steal it," I said hotly. "He came out of nowhere!"

"Dude, don't take it personally," the blond kid said. He folded his arms across his chest, which made him look like a kindergarten teacher explaining the importance of sharing. "You just need a little more training. I know when I first started fighting it took me awhile to pick up on things like this, so don't be too discouraged if you don't get it right away—"

I felt my face heat up as I tried to ignore Annabeth grinning beside me. This kid couldn't have picked someplace that _wasn't_ right in front of her to lecture me on battle skills? "Look, _dude_—"

"Geez, would you two just punch each other and get over it?" the black-haired girl asked, rolling her eyes. "Jason, stop picking on the new meat. I'm guessing you're Percy, and judging by the way you're running your mouth, you're not horribly injured or anything. Annabeth, you okay too?"

Annabeth tried to smother her grin, but she didn't quite make it. I scowled. "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for the assist, Thalia."

"No prob," she said, waving it off. She turned her attention to Luke, who was glaring at her from underneath her sneaker. "So, what do we do with you?"

"Nice to see you too," he said sarcastically.

Thalia shrugged it off. "You lost your right to common courtesy when you attacked Annabeth. Some role model you turned out to be. Jerk."

A flicker of hurt passed over Luke's face, but he hid it so quickly I'm not sure anyone else even saw it. "You really think you've won anything here, Thalia Grace?"

Before she could answer, Luke's eyes turned from their normal blue to a solid gold, and suddenly I couldn't move. I wasn't frozen, exactly. It was more like time had slowed way down and taken me with it. Annabeth, Thalia, and Jason seemed to be sharing my problem. Luke, however, definitely wasn't. He pushed Thalia off his chest, grabbed his sword from Jason, and took off into the forest. He wasn't moving easily, though. Everything Luke did looked like it took ten times more effort than it should. He even paused and opened his mouth like he was going to say something before he ran away, but the action seemed to exhaust him. He closed his eyes and stumbled slightly before he recovered and vanished into the trees.

Then, just as suddenly as time had slowed down, it caught up again and I realized I could move. I immediately went to charge into the trees after Luke, but Annabeth stopped me.

"No. You've done enough stupid stuff in the last five minutes. You're staying right here where I can keep an eye on you," she said, glaring at me.

"What, like saving your life? You're right. Pretty stupid of me." I grinned at her.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Stay here and try to keep the PDA to a minimum. Jason, go grab the others. I'll see if I can find any sign of Luke."

She took off before any of us could argue, but I couldn't help asking, "Uh, shouldn't we maybe not be splitting up?"

"She can handle herself," Jason said with a hint of pride. "She took down Luke, didn't she?"

"I think we helped a little," I answered. I tried not to sound defensive, but I don't think I made it. Annabeth's mouth was twitching again.

She stepped in before Jason could respond, which was probably a good thing. "Hey, Jason, why don't you go catch the others? I'll keep Seaweed Brain here safe while you're gone."

Jason shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know. Maybe we should all go. You know, more people to keep him safe and everything."

I might have been wrong, but I didn't think that was his main concern. At least, he wasn't concerned about _my_ safety. "I think we'll be fine," I said, throwing my most ferocious glare at him for good measure.

He glared right back, but once again Annabeth stepped in.

"Really, we'll be okay. Go ahead. We'll wait," she said, smiling at him. Behind Jason's back, I pretended to gag. Annabeth whacked me on the head without taking her eyes off the kid.

Jason turned slightly red, but he nodded. "All right," he said reluctantly. "I'll be back in a minute. Stay right here. And try to keep your sword out of enemy hands," he added to me as he left.

"That seemed unnecessary," I muttered resentfully.

"Oh, relax." Annabeth shook her head. "Are you still upset because he made that crack about your fighting skills?"

Was I? Yeah, that annoyed me, but I didn't think that was it. I shrugged it off. "Look, I've been fighting monsters longer than that kid's been alive!"

Annabeth laughed. "Right, you were a master swordsman at the age of one? Boys are so dumb. Wait until he sees you fight for real, and he'll take it back. Until then, chill."

I was about to make some really smart comeback like "No" when I realized something. "Wait, did you just give me a compliment?"

"Nope. Must have been your imagination." She smiled at me, and for a minute everything was perfect. Then she punched me in the arm. Hard.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, rubbing the spot she'd hit. "What was that for?"

"Not following the plan, you moron!" she said. Ah, so she'd chased Jason away so she could lecture and apparently pound me. I couldn't help being a little disappointed. "You were supposed to run away!"

"Well, your plan stunk!" I shot back.

Her eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me!" I said. "If you thought I was just going to turn and abandon you in the middle of a fight, you must have been crazy!"

Annabeth gave a frustrated growl. "'Abandoning' me was exactly what you were supposed to do! You're the one Kronos wants, not me! Next time I tell you to run, you run. If you argue, I kill you myself. If you _think_ about arguing, I kill you myself. Are we clear?"

"Yeah, we're clear," I said angrily. "Next time your life is in danger, I run away and let you die a horrible, painful death. A plan worthy of Athena!"

Her eyes widened. Maybe I'd crossed a line there, now that I thought about it…

She didn't yell at me, though. She just calmly folded her arms over her chest and said, "Jason was right. You have a lot to learn. I hope someone has a chance to teach you."

And with that, Annabeth walked away, leaving to meet Jason as he came out of the forest. I stood there dumbly, wishing for once she'd yelled at me.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, first off, I am so sorry this chapter took as long as it did. In fact, I think it's better that I don't even do the math on it for you…anyway, life is done throwing things at me for awhile, so my update schedule should be back to normal. If for some reason I disappear again, you have my permission to annoy me as much as possible until I come back, because I won't have any excuse for it. Sorry again, and thanks for your patience!**

**Also, the usual thank you to bibliophile114 for the amazingly fast beta read on this chapter! As always, you are AWESOME; everyone would have been waiting a lot longer if it'd been all on me :) And I know I say it every time, but thanks to everyone for alerting/favoriting/reviewing/reading so far too. The support is fantastic!**

**Oh, and I should probably just get it out of the way now: I apologize to those of you who really like Jason and think I was too mean to him so far. The next chapter deals with Camp Beta's story, so hopefully that will help explain/make it up to you…**

**Until then, thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it!**


	5. Protection Detail

**Chapter 5: Protection Detail**

The rest of the day had gone fairly uneventfully. It turned out "the others" that Jason had been sent to find were actually the kids who'd come with Thalia and Jason from Camp Beta. There was a really pretty Native American girl who'd introduced herself as Piper, a daughter of Aphrodite, and a wise-cracking Hispanic boy named Leo, son of Hephaestus. Jason also introduced a big, tough-looking girl as Clarisse, since she just snorted and refused to introduce herself. Considering her first suggestion was that we hunt down Luke and throw every weapon short of a cruise missile at him, I was guessing she was related to Ares.

However, since Thalia had found no trace of Luke, Clarisse had been forced to abandon her revenge plans and follow Thalia's instruction to get as far away from camp as possible before nightfall. That meant hours of silent, anxious marching. Even worse, almost as soon as we'd started, the freezing October wind had picked up, so by the end of the day everyone was cold and miserable.

As the sun finally slipped below the horizon, Thalia called for everyone to stop. "We'll have to make camp here. Hopefully I've erased our tracks enough that we can't be followed."

"I told you that wasn't necessary," Clarisse grumbled. "I say let them follow! Are we cowards?"

"No, but at least one of us is a moron," muttered Nico. Hours of trudging through mud hadn't improved his mood much.

Clarisse turned on him. "What was that, punk?"

Nico glared at her. "Sorry, was I speaking too fast? Next time I'll make sure to go more slowly so you can follow it."

"Why you little—!" Clarisse whipped out a spear and charged toward the son of Hades, but he stood his ground and met her blow with his sword.

"Hey, I think we can all agree you're _both_ morons!" Thalia shouted, stalking over to them to break up the fight. They ignored her.

"Ever battled the armies of Hades?" Nico asked Clarisse, raising his arm.

"Who do you think sent most of the soldiers there in the first place?" she said with a growl.

Thalia growled too, and for a minute I thought she was going to roast them with lightning or something. Instead she gestured to the Aphrodite girl, Piper. Piper sighed and reluctantly left her spot next to Jason. I wasn't sure what Thalia was thinking. No offense to Piper, but she didn't exactly look like the ultimate fighting champion of the world. And at this point, I didn't think anything less was going to break up Nico and Clarisse.

Instead of pulling out a sword, though, Piper just spoke calmly. "Why don't we put down the weapons and start making camp? We don't really want to fight. We want to be friends."

When she said it like that, it made so much sense. Of course we were all friends! Even Jason suddenly seemed friendlier. Why had I ever disliked him? I couldn't remember anymore.

Then Clarisse broke the spell. "You know how much I hate it when you charmspeak."

I shook my head, trying to clear it. What _was_ that? Whatever it was, though, it had worked. Clarisse and Nico had both stood down.

"Well, she wouldn't have had to do it if you two hadn't been stupid," Jason said reasonably. I looked over at him. I found myself agreeing with him, and for some reason that made me want to punch him.

Yeah, the spell was definitely broken.

Thalia stepped in before Clarisse could start attacking Jason. I tried not to be too disappointed. "Okay, guys, we have to make camp. Two groups: one to set up tents, another to round up some firewood. Leo, you're on cooking duty."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Leo said with a sloppy salute and a cheesy grin.

Thalia looked at him tiredly, but she apparently decided not to comment. "No one goes anywhere alone. Jason, you're with me on firewood duty. Nico and Percy, you stay here—"

"What?" I exclaimed at the same time Nico said, "Hey, not fair!"

Thalia glared at us. "Problem?"

"Uh, yes!" I said angrily. "You're Zeus' kids—"

"Jupiter, actually," Jason interrupted.

I ignored him. "So why do Nico and I have to stay here while you and Jason get to go do stuff? Kronos is looking for _any_ kid of the Big Three! That means you too!"

"Are you going to let me finish?" Thalia asked. I folded my arms over my chest, but I let her continue. "Thank you. As I was saying, Nico and Percy, you stay here _to protect the group setting up camp._ Each group will have two Big Three kids in case we run into any trouble."

"Oh," I said, feeling stupid. "Uh, yeah, that sounds okay."

"So the rest of us are completely incapable of taking care of ourselves?" demanded Travis.

"Yeah!" agreed Connor. "The whole point of us coming along in the first place was to protect Percy and Nico—"

Annabeth jabbed them both in the ribs, and although they quickly shut their mouths, it was too late. Protests had begun all over the group.

Thalia put two fingers to her mouth and released an ear-splitting whistle. "Enough! Everyone is perfectly capable of taking care of themselves! But it's my decision, and it's final. No arguing. No complaining. Just divide into two groups and make camp before I kill you all anyway."

There were a couple other grumbles, but no one voiced any real objections. I saw Grover grab a tent and decided to go over and help him. A few hours qualified as giving him enough space, right? Anyway, it's not like he was going to be able to ignore me forever.

"Hey, G-man," I greeted him. "Want some help?"

"Oh, hi, Percy," Grover said. He still sounded depressed. I suddenly felt bad he'd gotten dragged into this whole thing because of me.

"Look, I know I haven't said it yet, but thanks for coming along and everything. I'm sorry you got forced into being my protector," I said with a grimace.

"Oh, no, it's my job. I actually volunteered for it." Grover shrugged.

"Wait, you volunteered to spend your life watching me?" I asked incredulously. "When you could've been attending hippie concerts or learning Justin Bieber songs on the reed pipes instead?"

Grover let out a bleating laugh. "Sure. You just can't beat that warm, fuzzy feeling you only get from helping an ungrateful demigod!"

I laughed too. We worked in silence for a minute before I worked up the nerve to finally say, "So, that Council thing. Crazy stuff, huh?"

Grover wouldn't meet my eyes. "Yeah. Um, crazy."

I stopped setting up the tent to stare at him seriously. "Look, I totally understand if you don't want to tell me. It's probably none of my business. But you're my best friend, and if I can do something to help, I want to."

He sighed, but he still managed a weak smile. "I know you do. Thanks, Perce. You're my best friend too. That's why I didn't want to say anything. I mean, I know you're still dealing with this whole demigods thing, and it didn't seem fair to dump my problems on you too…"

"C'mon," I said, trying to sound upbeat. "It can't be that bad. No one's tried to kill you yet today, right?"

Grover snorted. "Only 'cause Silenus couldn't get anyone else to vote on it."

I raised my eyebrows at him, and he sighed again. Grover gave up on the tent and plopped on the ground.

"You know how I really want to get my searcher's license?" he asked.

I dropped the tent to sit next to him. "Of course. You're going to be the one who finally finds Pan."

Grover smiled faintly. "Leave it to you to sound so sure. Well, the first step to achieving your license is doing protection detail for a demigod. It proves you're worthy to undertake the search and everything."

I nodded. "So you get stuck with me for a decade, but then you finally get to do what you want if I survive?"

"It's not quite that easy," he said with a grimace. "The Council of Cloven Elders is the group who actually decides if you've done a good enough job to get your searcher's license. I brought you safely to camp, but…"

"But?" I prompted when Grover didn't continue.

He sighed again. "I assume you've heard by now that Thalia got turned into a pine tree?"

"Yeah," I said. "A final blessing from her father when she sent Annabeth and Luke to safety a few years back."

"Right," Grover said, nodding. "Except…well, except she wasn't supposed to be on her own. Before I was assigned to protect you, I was assigned to protect Thalia."

I cringed. It didn't take Athena to realize that hadn't gone so well. "Look, man, I'm sure there's nothing you could've done…"

"I still failed her!" Grover burst out, startling the other kids around the camp. He took a deep breath, and when he spoke again, his voice was lower. "I was supposed to start protecting her when she was seven, like with every demigod, but she hated her dad too much. When he tried to introduce me to her as her protector, Thalia refused. She didn't want anything to do with him. Zeus insisted, but she told him she'd rather take her chances."

"Whoa. Harsh."

"Yeah." Grover stared ahead for a few seconds. "You know, he really does care about her. It's no coincidence Thalia found Luke after she turned down my protection. At camp, I heard people say Athena caused the prophecy by guiding Annabeth to Thalia and Luke, but by the time Annabeth joined them, they'd been traveling together for a couple years. Zeus broke the rules for his own daughter long before Athena did."

I was silent for a minute. "So what does that have to do with your searcher's license?"

Grover studied the ground intently, avoiding my gaze. "Um, well, some of the other satyrs…" He winced. "They think it reflects badly on my skills as a protector, that I should have followed her anyway. You know, protected her whether she wanted it or not."

"Hey, I've known this girl for all of half a day, and even I know that would never have worked," I said, trying to cheer him up.

He smiled a little. "That's what the Council eventually decided, which is why I was assigned to the next demigod without a named protector: you. Years and years ago, satyrs used to just find demigods and bring them to camp. Since so few demigods exist now, each one has his or her own satyr. A successful term as a protector usually guarantees you a searcher's license, if that's what you want."

"That's great!" I said, thumping him on the back. "Congrats, man!"

Grover winced. "Not quite, Perce. The Council hasn't decided whether I've been successful yet with you or not."

"But I made it to camp!" I protested. "Isn't that what satyrs used to do?"

"A couple centuries ago, that might have been enough," he said with a nod. "But not anymore. Plus, the Elders are old enough to remember how I failed with Thalia. Officially that doesn't affect their decision, but unofficially…"

He cleared his throat. "Anyway, the Council decided they'd wait to make their determination until you reached seventeen, since that should be the end of the prophecy. If you make it, I was successful. If you don't, I'm back to playing _Baby_ at hippie festivals."

My spirits sank. I didn't think Grover could really do much against a prophecy that was basically guaranteeing my death. I hoped the Council would take that into account. "Well, you know, I'm sure it'll be fine. I just have to keep myself alive for another ten months. Then we'll march down to that Council and demand they give you a searcher's license!"

I expected Grover to at least crack a smile at that, but instead he stared at me so intently I started to feel uncomfortable. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "I just don't think you realize how special you are. I can't remember that last time a satyr got to complain that his demigod's fatal flaw was loyalty."

"Yeah, I've been told I need to be more of a jerk," I said, trying not to roll my eyes. "Apparently everyone hates me because I'm nice."

Grover nodded. "Of course they do. They all got stuck with stupid flaws like excessive pride or crippling indecision. It's like that question they always ask at job interviews."

"'Have you ever been convicted of a federal offense?'" I asked with a grin.

"No," Grover said, whacking me with his reed pipes. "That 'what's your biggest problem' question. You know, where everyone tries to turn it into a positive somehow. 'I'm too much of a perfectionist,' or 'I take my work too seriously.' You're basically saying your biggest flaw is that you're too good a person. You got handed the ultimate get-out-of-flaw free card!"

"I'm not sure it counts when your flaw is still fatal," I said dryly.

Grover rolled his eyes. "But you see my point. When has someone ever said, 'thank the gods, my uncontrollable jealousy just saved the day'? Every demigod has a fatal flaw. At least yours is cool."

"Well, duh. I'm like the definition of cool! What else would you expect?" I struck my best hero pose.

Grover started laughing hysterically, which made _me_ start laughing hysterically. I guess after the day we'd had, we were only a couple steps away from hysteria anyway.

Something hard hit my head. "Ow!" I complained, rubbing the sore spot. I noticed Grover was doing the same thing.

"Shut up, you morons!" Thalia materialized in front of us, whipping off a baseball cap. "Do you want to attract every minion of Kronos within fifty miles?"

"No, but was it really necessary to try to knock us unconscious?" I muttered resentfully. Another something hit my head, but this time I caught a glimpse as it hit the ground beside me. Firewood. "OW!"

"Hunters are known for their keen sense of hearing," Annabeth said casually, walking up behind Thalia. She surveyed us critically. "They're still talking. I don't think you hit them hard enough."

"What, you want to lug them behind us as we run?" Thalia snorted. "Although if they don't _shut up_, it might be our only option."

I opened my mouth to defend us, but Thalia looked at her large pile of remaining firewood significantly. "Feeling lucky, Flipper?"

That stopped me. "Huh?" I asked, confused. When Grover oh so helpfully started playing the theme song to _Flipper_ on his pipes, I caught on. "Oh. Right. Like the dolphin, because I'm the son of Poseidon. I get it. Clever."

Either Thalia missed the sarcasm, or she chose to ignore it. "I thought so." She handed the baseball cap to Annabeth and gestured for us to follow her. "Don't forget that firewood next to you!"

I glared at her as she walked away, but I was surprised when I saw Annabeth had stuck around.

"See? 'Seaweed Brain' doesn't seem so bad now, does it?" She offered her hand to help me up.

"I guess it's at least original," I admitted, taking her hand. She smiled a little and pulled me to my feet.

"Nicknaming is one of Athena's lesser known powers," she said, leaning in like it was some sort of secret. I grinned back at her, and for a minute we stood there, smiling at each other. Then Grover cleared his throat.

"Um, sorry, I'll just…go," he finished lamely, hurrying off after Thalia. I thought I heard him offering to play some Backstreet Boys for her, but judging by her _Green Day: 21__st__ Century Breakdown_ t-shirt, I doubted he was going to have much luck.

I realized I still hadn't let go of Annabeth's hand, and I abruptly pulled away. I hoped my face wasn't too red. I started to apologize, but Annabeth beat me to it.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out. I stared at her in shock.

"No, it was completely my fault. I should have dropped your hand once I stood up—"

She punched me in the arm. Great, now my head _and_ my arm hurt. "Not for that! For being so hard on you earlier. I'm not…well, I'm just not used to people taking on Titans for me. Demigod etiquette is more of a 'save yourself first' kind of system."

"Yeah, I hear I have a problem with putting people I like ahead of the world," I said without thinking, too focused on the conversation Grover and I had just had. My eyes widened as I realized what I'd just admitted. "Not that, you know, I like you or anything! Definitely not more than the world! The world is really big and important and everything and I just…"

I trailed off, rubbing the back of my neck in embarrassment. Annabeth turned bright red.

"No, of course not," she said quickly. "I mean, we've known each other less than a day. And I was going to kill you."

She sounded unsure about the last part, like she couldn't remember why she'd been so set on it earlier. I did a double take as I thought about what she'd said, though. Had we really known each other less than twenty-four hours? It had seemed like forever. It scared me a little that I already considered her a friend. I didn't really understand it. Whether she remembered why or not, she _had_ wanted me dead. She probably still did. Not the most solid foundation for a friendship, but it didn't change how I felt. I did like her, and suddenly I found myself desperately hoping I could make her like me too.

I decided to blame it on being homeschooled for the last ten years. I'll bet kids who went to actual school outgrew this need for other kids' approval.

"Anyway," I said, smoothly changing the subject, "I should be the one apologizing. I was out of line with that stuff about Athena. And you're right; I could probably stand to learn a thing or two."

She smiled. "'Probably,' huh? We'll work on it as soon as we get to Camp Beta. _If_ we get to Camp Beta," she amended, bending down to pick up the pieces of firewood that had bounced off my head.

"What do you mean, 'if'?" I asked. I didn't like her tone.

Annabeth hesitated slightly. "It might be nothing, but Jason and Thalia traveling on foot this close to Camp Alpha? Accompanied by two of the most powerful demigods at Beta and a daughter of Ares? It's not a good sign. Thalia's waiting for everyone in the middle of camp to tell us something important, and I'm afraid it's not going to be great news."

"Oh." I tried to look concerned, but to be honest my brain had seized up after she mentioned Jason. I wanted to ask what the deal was with him, but I couldn't find a way to look worried about what was happening at Beta while also looking uninterested in anything she said about Jason. Finally I decided to just go for it. "So, you and Jason, huh?"

Okay, I want to state for the record that I definitely did _not_ mean to ask that. I swear! I meant to ask about why he was acting so arrogant, or about him and Thalia, or _anything _else. Apparently my mouth was as good at following orders as the rest of me.

Annabeth looked confused. "Me and Jason what?"

I started messing with the tent Grover and I had abandoned so I wouldn't have to look at her. And so she wouldn't see my face heating up. "Well, you know, the way he was acting earlier. It kind of seemed like the two of you…like he and you…"

I couldn't finish, but Annabeth seemed to figure it out anyway. She started laughing so hard I was afraid she was having some sort of attack.

"You thought…? Me and…_Jason_?" she managed between gasps. I stood there panicking, watching camp for any sign that Thalia was going to march back over and start beating me up with sticks again.

"Shh!" I hissed, trying to calm her down. I'm not sure she heard me; tears were rolling down her cheeks. Eventually she started hiccupping and bringing herself under control, so I thought it was safe to ask, "Are you all right?"

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah, sorry, I just didn't expect—"

She was cut off by her own laughter again, and this time it caught Thalia's attention. I backed up instinctively as she came over, but she just whacked Annabeth on the back of the head.

"I don't care what stupid thing Percy said this time; be quiet and come sit down!" she ordered, and Annabeth clamped a hand over her mouth and nodded quickly. I started to argue, but Thalia held up her hand. "No more out of you, Free Willy."

"Hey, that's worse than Flipper!" I protested.

Thalia raised an eyebrow at me. "I've also seen _The Little Mermaid_," she warned. I shut up.

We followed her over to where everyone else was sitting in a circle. Annabeth and I took seats between the Stoll brothers and Nico, because the Stolls were gesturing between Clarisse and the son of Hades while waggling their eyebrows suggestively. Without talking, Annabeth and I agreed two more bodies between them could only be a good thing. Nico was casually twirling his sword closer and closer to the brothers' necks.

"Okay, first things first. Camp Beta has fallen," Thalia said calmly. Then, as the gasps and questions began, she raised her voice. "Listen! We aren't sure why, but we think someone who stayed at camp briefly may have revealed the location." She glanced quickly at Clarisse, who set her jaw and didn't look up.

"Who'd be stupid enough to do that?" demanded Nico, glaring at Clarisse. Clearly he hadn't forgiven her for earlier.

Thalia stepped easily between the two. "We don't know," she told him. "There are a couple suspects. I don't suppose Alpha has heard from Ethan Nakamura recently?"

The Alpha campers of the group shook their heads.

"What about…" Clarisse took a deep breath. "Has anyone heard anything about Chris Rodriguez?"

Again, everyone shook their heads. Clarisse nodded brusquely and went back to staring at the fire pit we'd made earlier.

"Like I said, we don't know who did it," Thalia repeated. "But ultimately it doesn't matter. Beta came under attack three days ago. Lupa gathered the campers for a stand against the invasion force, but we were sent to warn Alpha."

"Why not just IM?" asked Annabeth. Thalia and Jason exchanged a look.

Jason cleared his throat. "Lupa, um, wasn't sure we could trust Iris."

Thalia scowled. "In other words, Lupa refused to let Chiron know she'd lost a couple campers, so she was hoping to deal with the attack and call us back before anyone knew about it."

Jason looked like he was ready to argue with that, but he didn't. "Lupa wanted to make sure we got Piper and Leo out. We thought if we could get them to Alpha, they'd be safe."

Annabeth snorted. "Right. You and Thalia were protecting them."

Thalia colored slightly, but Jason's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "Well, yeah, that was the plan."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Yeah, just like Percy and Nico stayed behind while we made camp today to protect _us_," she said sarcastically.

"But we did," I said, understanding Jason's confusion. Why couldn't Annabeth ever say anything straight out?

Annabeth started to answer me, but like she'd done with Nico and Clarisse earlier, Thalia hurriedly waved to Piper.

The Aphrodite girl stood up and spoke soothingly. "It really doesn't matter. We should be focusing on Kronos—"

"No, wait, what did you mean?" Jason demanded, turning to Annabeth. Whatever Piper's power was, Jason was apparently immune. From Piper's expression as he cut her off, I got the feeling there was something going on between them. Of course, I'd thought that about Jason and Annabeth too, so maybe I had no idea what I was talking about. If I lived through this whole prophecy thing, I was demanding Mom send me to a normal high school to learn about this stuff.

Thalia was making furious slashing motions to Annabeth behind Jason's back, but Annabeth didn't seem to notice. "Jason, did you honestly think you were the one doing the protecting?"

I thought it was pretty obvious from his reaction that he did, but he nodded anyway. "That's what Lupa said, which is why I turned command over to Reyna to go with them. Are you saying she lied to me?"

For the first time, Annabeth seemed sympathetic. "I'm sorry, Jason. But Kronos needs a child of the Big Three. Lupa and Chiron both knew that. We're here to keep you guys safe. There's no way you would ever have left if Lupa hadn't convinced you it was in Piper and Leo's best interests. Would you?"

Jason crossed his arms over his chest and didn't respond, but it was clear his answer would have been "no."

"Anyway," Annabeth continued, "since Kronos attacked both camps, he obviously intended to drive the Big Three children outside the gods' protection to give himself a better chance at controlling the prophecy."

"Wait," I interrupted her. "This might be a dumb question—no comment, Nico!—but why would having a child of the Big Three control the prophecy anymore? I've already reached sixteen, right?"

The other kids frowned and nodded, which made me a little proud. Not such a dumb question after all.

To my surprise, it was Rachel who answered. "The hero in the prophecy is still up for debate. According to the prophecy, the hero will make a choice that either saves or destroys Olympus. The kids with that kind of power are usually Big Three kids. Of course, I do know some sons of Hermes who could give them a run for their money in the destruction department." She looked at the Stoll brothers, who blinked innocently back at her.

"So the idea is if Kronos can get his hands on one of us, he has a better shot at having the hero of the prophecy under his control?" I asked, trying to understand.

Rachel nodded. "Ideally he'd like to have this entire group, I think. You all probably fill out twelve of the top fifteen spots on the 'World's Most Powerful Demigods' list. But if he had his choice…well, the best money is still on Percy as the hero since he reached sixteen. If Kronos captures any child of the Big Three, though, there's nothing stopping him from killing every other demigod to make sure no one gets in the way."

We all looked at each other uneasily. Rachel must have realized she was losing the race for best pep talk ever, because she added brightly, "But we're all together, so nothing like that can possibly happen!"

Everyone stared at her for a second until Will broke the silence by plucking the first few bars of _Kumbaya_ on his guitar. Even Thalia chuckled.

"So neither of the camps is safe?" asked Beckendorf, speaking for the first time. The guy was definitely the strong and silent type.

"No," said Annabeth, shaking her head. "But we have a bigger problem: Luke."

"What, because he knows we left camp?" I asked.

Annabeth and Thalia looked at each other. Neither of them wanted to be the one to answer, but finally Thalia squared her shoulders. "No," she said reluctantly. "Because Kronos is being reborn in Luke's body."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I know it's probably not the best place to end it, but I'm also not sure it's any better to end with the always uplifting Luke-is-hosting-Kronos discussion. Although is there ever a great time for discussing evil Titan possession?  
><strong>

**Thank you again to my beta reader, bibliophile114! As you can probably tell since I'm posting this about an hour after you sent it back to me, your comments are always the highlight of my day (to the point where I lamely admit I can't even wait five minutes after I see the e-mail to read them...). So thank you!**

**And like always, thank you to everyone for reading! I always appreciate people taking the time to wade through my writing. I really do hope you're enjoying the story so far, but if for some reason you're not, definitely let me know why!  
><strong>


	6. A Not So Great Prophecy

**Chapter 6: A Not-So-Great Prophecy**

For a minute, no one said a word. Even Travis and Connor seemed speechless, but I guess being told your brother is turning into a Titan isn't something you hear every day.

Thalia took the silence as an invitation to continue, probably assuming that if we could talk, we'd be asking for an explanation.

"You've all heard what happened earlier. Luke stopped time in order to escape."

"Wait, that's not a power of kids of Hermes?" I asked, finally finding my voice.

"I did always wonder how they were so good at stealing things..." muttered Nico, glaring at the Stolls.

"Hey, you handed those Mytho-whatsits cards over fair and square—" Connor began, but Annabeth cut him off before it could go any further.

"No, Percy, Kronos is the _Lord of Time_. No Hermes kid has control over that." She rolled her eyes at me.

I scowled at her in return. "Cut me some slack. I didn't even know other demigods existed twelve hours ago!"

For a minute I thought Annabeth might concede; she started to nod, but then her gaze hardened again. "And your father never taught you demigod history? You never learned about Sam Morse or Marco Polo? Not even Gus?"

I frowned. "Hermes really named one of his kids 'Gus?'"

Annabeth rolled her eyes again, but she didn't get a chance to respond thanks to Thalia.

"We're getting off-track here. The point is, Kronos is trying to use Luke's body as a host. Luckily, Luke wasn't able to hold the time freeze for very long, which means Kronos can't be too far into the process."

"'_Luckily_?'" Grover squeaked.

Leo paused in flipping burgers on a grill over the fire. I stared. How had I missed him starting a fire? And pulling out a grill? He hadn't left his seat for the whole meeting. "Yeah, I know the beauty queen and I haven't been around long, but just how many times has this happened? Seems like it's been too many if you can already judge body possession by the length of the time freeze." He shook his head. "Okay, that's the weirdest sentence I've said all week, and it's been a _seriously_ weird week."

Thalia and Annabeth exchanged another look, which was starting to annoy me. I know I'd only been a part of this for a few hours, but wouldn't it make sense for everyone to have as much information as possible? It was like they were trying to decide how much we needed to know. Or maybe how much we could handle.

"Kronos has…attempted this before," Thalia said carefully. "In this past, he hasn't been able to get enough demigod support. Or the demigods he tries to inhabit have changed their minds before the process is completed, but in this case—"

"There's still time for that," Annabeth interrupted, and from the look Thalia shot her, I got the feeling this was an argument they'd had before. "But we have to operate on the assumption Luke can't break the connection himself."

"Won't break it, you mean," Thalia murmured.

Annabeth ignored her. "Luke left camp two years ago. That means he's had two full years to recruit demigods to pledge allegiance to Kronos. However, since we know Kronos started rising a couple years before that, we have to assume he's been recruiting for at least four years total."

"So we're doomed," I said. I figured someone had to say it.

"No," Annabeth said firmly. "If Kronos could take complete control now, he would. The fact that he only has partial control indicates Luke hasn't found enough demigods yet. We suspected as much earlier, when he didn't storm the camp and take you by force. It was possible he'd decided that was too risky, though. You could have escaped while he was busy fighting his way through the defenses."

"The pool of demigods alive today is just too small to resurrect Kronos as quickly as he'd like," Thalia continued. "Which means if we can find wherever they're channeling his power…"

"We can crush him!" shouted Clarisse, pounding her fist into the ground in case there was any confusion about what "crush" meant.

"Um, why don't we let the gods crush him?" Leo asked as he started to pass around burgers. "Isn't that kind of in their job description?"

"Not really," Jason said. "They usually prefer the hands-off approach."

"Yeah, we noticed," Piper muttered, a little bitterly. I wondered how long she and Leo had been at camp before it'd been attacked. Not long, I decided.

"So since we can't go back to camp, we hunt down Kronos instead?" I asked. "I have to admit, I like that plan way better than running and hiding."

I heard muffled agreement from the others as they chewed noisily.

"Yeah," Nico said viciously, swallowing hard. "I'm really not a fan of being hunted. I say we hunt _them_!"

The venom in his voice caught me off-guard. I thought back to what he'd said before, about children of Hades holding grudges and seeking revenge. Had Kronos killed his sister? It was hard to tell the kid's "I hate you because you did something" moods from his "I hate you because I feel like it" moods.

"But do we even know where to look?" asked Piper. She and Grover were the only ones not eating, waiting patiently while Leo cooked another two burgers separately. With a rush of gratitude toward the son of Hephaestus, I realized those had to be the vegetarian option. My opinion of Leo went up. Anyone who automatically took Grover's veggie diet into account earned a few bonus points in my book.

"Luke attacked Camp Beta first, even thought he knew Camp Alpha better," said Annabeth, answering Piper's question. "I think we can safely assume he did that because he was initially closer to Beta."

"Or he wanted to wait until Percy was at camp," Will pointed out. "Easier than searching all of New York for him."

"It's possible, but I don't think so." Annabeth wrinkled her nose. "If he knew Percy was coming to camp, then he also knew we knew Percy's location. If he'd attacked earlier and Percy wasn't there, he could easily have forced us to tell him. I think it was more convenient to attack Beta first. If he could have gotten either Jason or Thalia, he wouldn't have needed to capture Percy at all. He could have destroyed Camp Alpha without a second thought and had plenty of time to sort through the wreckage to see if he'd killed Percy too."

The more I heard about all these possibilities, the more I was thinking someone probably should have mentioned all this to me before today.

"So the resurrection site is almost definitely located near Beta? That leaves only one real possibility." Jason looked at Thalia.

"Mount Tamalpais," she said, shuddering slightly. "It makes sense. We know Atlas supports his brother, and where better to rebuild Mount Othrys?"

"Wait," Leo and I said in unison. Most of the others looked confused as well. Apparently history was a pretty neglected subject all around in demigod school.

Annabeth took a breath, slipping effortlessly into lecture mode. "Mount Othrys was the Titan base during the ancient Olympian War. Although it lasted ten years, eventually the gods were able to take down the Titan fortress. Zeus used Kronos' scythe to cut him into pieces, which he then threw into Tartarus. After millennia of suffering like that, Kronos caught a break when the Civil War ended: the gods isolated all demigods from each other. For the first time, demigods made no alliances with one another, and more importantly, they all began to resent their godly parents. Kronos discovered it wasn't hard to turn an individual demigod's mind against the Olympians, and since then, he's periodically attempted to use a demigod as a host so he can be reborn. His first step is always to rebuild his base at Mount Othrys, where the demigods must go to pledge their loyalty."

"But," said Thalia, picking up the story, "there just aren't as many demigods around anymore. That makes it harder for Kronos to get enough support to rise fully, and it should make it easier for us to find his base."

"Beta is traditionally Roman," added Jason. "If anyone can withstand an assault, Beta can. We can stop by, maybe get Reyna to help. Even if Luke knew Beta's location, he has no experience with Roman fighting styles. No way he's had enough Romans under his command."

"What, because you're better than we are? Romans would never turn traitor to the gods?" Connor challenged him. Connor didn't add it, but everyone could tell what he was thinking: _Like our brother did._

"No," said Jason calmly, refusing to rise to the bait. I had to admire him for that. "Because in the past one hundred fifty years, only twelve Roman demigods have made it past age thirteen."

That shut everyone up for a minute, even me.

"Anyway," Jason continued, clearly signaling that part of the conversation was over, "I don't know how much it will help, but if we can stop at Beta briefly, we should have a better shot at succeeding at Mount Tam." He glanced at his sister. "Can you and Annabeth navigate—?"

"Yes," Thalia cut him off sharply. "We remember."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, but after looking at Thalia's stormy expression (did she inherit that from her father, I wondered?), everyone decided it was better not to risk talking just yet. Finally Thalia herself cleared her throat, and we all looked up gratefully.

"So if everyone agrees, our plan will be to head toward San Francisco. We'll scout Camp Beta, and if we can, regroup there to head to Mount Othrys on Mount Tam." Thalia looked around the group. "If you want out, say it now. You might not get another chance. We can drop you off someplace safe on our way."

We all looked around uneasily, but no one chose to leave. Maybe because we all realized even Thalia didn't know of a safe place to drop us off, or we'd already be heading there by now.

"Okay," Thalia said with an approving nod, "everyone grab some sleep. We'll head west in the morning."

"Wait!" said Will, stopping everyone from getting up. He gestured toward Rachel, whose eyes had begun to glow. Green mist was starting to surround her, pouring from her mouth.

Thalia muttered something in ancient Greek, which I was betting I didn't want translated. "I was hoping if I didn't phrase it as a quest…"

"Shh!" Will said over her.

Sure enough, Rachel had begun to speak. Her voice was deeper, much less cheerful than when she'd spoken earlier. I shuddered. This was just plain creepy.

"_An unwise vow broken at last_

_To save the world from Titans past_

_Old enemies unite to find the tomb_

_And birth the hero's eternal doom_

_Family, leaders shall set you free_

_One if by air and two if by sea"_

Just as quickly as it had begun, the green mist and the deep voice stopped, prompting Rachel to shake her head and look around.

"Seriously, people, you need to lighten up. I mean, who died?" she asked with a laugh, seeing our shocked expressions. Then comprehension seemed to dawn on her. "Oh, great. How long was I out this time?"

Annabeth recovered first. "Um, long enough to deliver your usual good news."

"Wait, what _was_ that?" I asked, still freaked out. I mean, I knew Rachel was the Oracle and all, but how often do you see green mist pouring out of someone's mouth anyway?

I was expecting Annabeth to roll her eyes and tell me green mist was actually a common demigod experience I'd just missed out on for the past sixteen years, but Will was the one who answered me.

"That was the prophecy for our quest to find Kronos," he said, taking it in stride. "My dad would be thrilled. He has a soft spot for depressing prophecies that predict death."

"Death?" yelped Rachel. "What did I say?"

Will repeated the prophecy for her, and to my surprise, she sighed in relief.

"Oh, is that all? Thank the gods," she said. When she saw we were all staring at her, she added, "What? After worrying about the end of the world for how long, I'm happy to get back to manageable, 'maybe someone will make it out alive' prophecies!"

I guess she had a point, but I wasn't crazy about lines like, '_And birth the hero's eternal doom._' I wasn't an expert on these things, but I wouldn't be surprised if prophecies overlapped. And that would mean this mission probably included my death, unless "eternal doom" happened to be Oracle code for "trip to Disneyworld" or something.

I think Annabeth was thinking the same thing, because she kept glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. Or maybe she was trying to tell me I had pieces of hamburger stuck to my face. She wasn't an easy person to read.

"Isn't 'one if by air, two if by sea' that Paul Revere thing?" asked Leo.

"That's 'one if by _land_, two if by sea,'" corrected Annabeth. "It's a line from Longfellow's poem, 'Paul Revere's Ride.'" She hesitated for second, shooting a sympathetic look at Travis and Connor. They were staring resolutely at the ground, which wasn't like them. When neither one stopped her, Annabeth sighed and continued. "But Paul Revere _was_ a son of Hermes."

We all sat there for a minute, trying our best not to stare at the Stoll brothers. Finally Will broke the silence.

"Hey, Longfellow was a son of Apollo," he said brightly. "Maybe that's the connection and it has nothing to do with Hermes."

Travis forced a smile to show he appreciated the effort, but no one was really buying it.

Thalia clapped her hands loudly, making everyone jump. "Okay, no more talking about the prophecy. No more _thinking_ about the prophecy. Time for us to get some shut-eye so we don't end up as monster chow tomorrow. Understood?"

We all nodded, partly because we were all tired from hours of marching, and partly because no one wanted to find out what Thalia would do if we didn't agree.

No one argued over sleeping arrangements either, which was probably a first for an all-teenager camping trip. We had eight tents among the fourteen of us, and it was pretty much unanimous that Nico and Rachel were the two who didn't have to share. No one seemed eager to sleep anywhere near Rachel after her prophecy, and Nico glared at anyone who came within ten feet of him. When he saw me, though, he winked and put his finger to his lips before turning his glare on Leo, who had come up to introduce himself. I rolled my eyes, but I didn't rat the kid out. If he wanted to make the whole "son of death" thing work for him, I wasn't going to stand in his way.

I decided to go help Grover set up the tent we'd abandoned, but when I started walking over, I saw Jason had beaten me to it. I tried not to scowl. I knew Jason was just being nice, and I did feel a little bad for him after learning so few Romans survived adolescence. Still, I wasn't going over there until he left. The last thing I needed was an encouraging speech on how I'd eventually learn how to set up a tent, if I practiced long enough.

Instead I saw Annabeth and Thalia cleaning up the remains of dinner and taking care of the fire, so I figured I'd earn some points by volunteering to help. As I got close enough to hear their conversation, though, I stopped.

"You heard her yourself, Thalia!" Annabeth was whispering excitedly. "She said 'family.' You can't tell me that's a coincidence!"

Thalia sighed. "Look, Annabeth, it doesn't mean anything. 'Family' is pretty vague—"

"Are you serious?" Annabeth stared at the other girl in shock. "I mentioned it this afternoon, and he went nuts!"

"Yeah, he tried to kill you!" Thalia snapped. "You're really going to sit there and tell me that's okay with you?"

Annabeth's eyes flashed. "Of course not, but that's not him, and you know it! Maybe Kronos is corrupting his mind, or maybe Kronos is controlling his actions completely, or maybe—"

"Listen to yourself!" Thalia said disgustedly. "Maybe _Kronos_ is doing all this? Did Kronos betray camp? Did Kronos poison my tree? Did Kronos turn his back on us? You have to face facts, Annabeth! He's gone, and he's not coming back!"

I thought for a minute Annabeth was going to hit Thalia, but instead she stood up abruptly and said icily, "I hope Rachel doesn't mind sharing her tent for the night after all."

She pushed past me without another word, and I watched Thalia run a hand over her face before she dropped to sit on the ground. I hesitated before walking over to her.

"This seat taken?" I asked, gesturing to the ground beside her. Thalia grunted, which I took as an okay to sit down.

At first neither of us said anything. Then Thalia sighed. "I'm guessing this means you heard all that?"

I winced. "Well, you know, maybe some of it. Except the parts you didn't want me to hear."

Thalia laughed a little. "Good, because if you'd heard those, I'd be forced to kill you."

"Oh, so you and Annabeth _do_ agree on something," I said dryly.

Thalia laughed again. "Most things, actually." She fell silent again.

I knew it was probably dumb not to quit while I was ahead, but I couldn't help myself. "Everything but Luke?"

Thalia's face darkened. "Watch it, Flounder."

I held my hands up in surrender. "Hey, no need to resort to name-calling. Sorry, you just looked like you might want to talk about it."

She looked at me critically. I must have passed some sort of test, though, because she sighed. "I just wish Annabeth could see Luke for what he really is. No matter what he does, though, she remembers him as the guy who took her in when she was little, who told her stories at night and made her laugh when she had a nightmare. She used to worship him, and that's a hard thing to come back from."

"And I'm guessing you never worshipped him?" I asked.

Thalia smiled sadly. "No, not exactly. Annabeth doesn't remember Luke stealing food at night while she slept or us arguing over whether or not we were doing the right thing by keeping her from her parents. We were always careful to make sure she didn't know about stuff like that. But we were never really unhappy, you know? If you'd known Luke back then…he was the kind of guy who made you believe anything was possible. He had that Hermes kid swagger and the skills to back it up."

The way she talked about him, I wasn't so sure Annabeth really had been the only person who worshipped Luke. "So what happened?"

Thalia shrugged and pulled out a hunting knife. I eyed it nervously, but she just started aimlessly digging in the dirt in front of her. "I died."

When she didn't elaborate, I eloquently asked, "Huh?"

"I died," she said, shrugging again. "It was the last straw for Luke, I think. He was a favorite of his dad's, which never went down well with him. Luke's mom was crazy, like three fries short of a Happy Meal _insane_, so being Hermes' 'favorite' wasn't a huge selling point. Plus so many of his brothers and sisters died…"

Thalia trailed off for a minute, but she picked up again before I had the chance to say anything. "So Hermes tried to prove how much he loved Luke. He gave Luke a quest when he was only nine, which is pretty much unheard of. It was something easy; golden apples, maybe? Anyway, Luke had been training with Hermes for a couple years at that point, so he was pretty well prepared. He and his satyr went off on the quest and somehow what should have been no problem ended up going horribly wrong."

She picked around in the dirt some more, and I noticed she was drawing what looked like a pine tree. I wondered if she was aware of that, and then figured it was probably not a great idea to point it out just in case she wasn't.

"He never really talked about it much," she continued. "What happened on the quest, I mean. All I know is his satyr sacrificed himself to save Luke, and Luke ended up with that scar. Luke never forgave his dad. I also know Hermes offered him another protector, but Luke was so sickened by the idea that he packed a bag and ran away from home that night. He used to joke that he didn't know where he was planning to run that his father, a god, couldn't find him, but Hermes got the message. As far as I know, he never talked to Luke again. It didn't matter. Luke just resented his father more and more. When I died, I think Luke felt like his father had abandoned him. And since my father hadn't saved me either, he decided the world would be better off without the gods at all."

I tried to imagine a world without my dad. He had his faults, sure, but he didn't seem like a bad guy. A lot of the time he didn't seem like a dad either, though, so it wasn't too hard to imagine Hermes trying and failing to be a good father to Luke. Would I have done the same thing in Luke's place?

I didn't think so, but I also didn't like thinking about it, so I changed the subject. "So how'd you die?"

Thalia looked up at me. "You haven't heard the story yet? Me? Pine tree? My dad's idea of a blessing?"

"Oh," I said, continuing my streak of eloquence. "Um, yeah, someone mentioned something about that. I never really got the details."

"Not much to tell," she said dismissively, almost like she was talking about someone completely different. "We were getting overrun by monsters. They'd been tracking us for years, and if we'd been following any sort of plan or going toward any actual destination, we probably would have been dead way before then. Luke and I had talked about the possibility of a no-win fight before, and we agreed protecting Annabeth was our top priority. When it was clear one day that we wouldn't be able to fight our way out, I told Luke to grab Annabeth and run. I'd hurt my leg a few days before, so if anyone was going to be fleeing the scene, it was Luke. Besides, I was the daughter of Zeus. The monsters were mainly tracking me."

Her eyes got this faraway look. "I remember Annabeth screaming and crying, begging for Luke to put her down so she could come back and help. She was nine by then, but she was such a skinny kid that Luke was carrying her without much of a problem. He was your age, you know. Sixteen. I don't remember much about that day, but I remember thinking seven years on the run had made him look incredibly old. And then I prayed to my father, and he turned me into a pine tree."

Thalia said the last part so quickly that I almost missed it. "So wait, you didn't die?"

Her nose scrunched up. "I don't know. Maybe? I guess not technically, although let me tell you, life as a tree can't be much different than being dead. I wasn't really aware of much. I just stood there."

Note to self: avoid being turned into a tree. I didn't even want to think about what that would do to an ADHD demigod. "But you, um, you got better, right?"

Thalia raised her eyebrows at me. "Dumb question."

"Yeah," I admitted. "That was more of an invitation to tell me how."

Thalia scowled at that, but I didn't think it was meant for me. "My dad felt guilty. Luke's dad did too, I think. And I'm sure Athena must have helped, because after that, the gods decided to re-establish a camp for demigods. My dad moved my tree to the border, to strengthen the defenses against invading monsters. Then about two years ago, Luke poisoned my tree."

My mouth hung open. I'd heard her mention her tree being poisoned when she was talking with Annabeth, but it seemed so heartless of Luke to do it after she sacrificed herself to get him to safety.

Thalia must have caught my expression, because she nodded. "Yeah, exactly. Thanks for nothing. It was win-win for Kronos, though. The only way to heal my tree and protect camp was with the Golden Fleece, which Luke had been trying to hunt down for ages. Chiron would never let him go, because it was in the Sea of Monsters and way too dangerous for a quest. And Chiron's never said it, but I think maybe he suspected even then that Luke wasn't exactly playing for the home team anymore. Anyway, my tree dying put a little higher priority on the trip, so Luke took Annabeth and another demigod and went to find the Fleece."

"Wait," I said, frowning. "I was at camp. I don't remember seeing any Golden Fleece."

"Are you going to wait for the end of the story or not, Jackson?" Thalia growled. I decided it was better not to push her. "Anyway," she continued, pointedly glaring at me, "they found the Fleece, but it was on Polyphemus' island. The other kid didn't make it out alive, and Annabeth was fatally injured."

I was about to point out she couldn't have been fatally injured if she was still alive, but Thalia was still glaring at me, so I decided against it. It turned out to be the smart move.

"I think Luke's original plan was to take the Fleece to Kronos as soon as they got it, but with Annabeth in such bad shape, he used the Fleece to heal her instead. It forced him to come back to camp, though. So when Annabeth was feeling better, she put the Fleece on my tree, and it worked a little too well. The tree got better, but so did I. One minute I was a tree, the next minute I was looking up at a centaur standing over me asking how I felt."

She paused. "How did he think I felt? He's been teaching demigods for centuries. He'd never seen someone pop out of a tree before?"

I assumed that was rhetorical.

"So just before I fall unconscious, I see Luke standing there. And I'm stupidly thinking he's happy to see me, but he just looks kind of shocked and guilty, and I _knew_ he'd poisoned the tree in the first place. When I woke up the next day, Luke and the Golden Fleece were gone."

"Wow," I said, as soon as I figured it was safe for me to talk again. "He just…left? After all that?"

Thalia nodded bitterly. "Without as much as a good bye. Well, he did leave me some CDs so I could catch up on the punk rock scene. That was nice of him. But then he kidnapped Annabeth a few months later—"

"Wait, he kidnapped Annabeth and she's still on his side?" I asked disbelievingly.

Thalia nodded again. "Now do you see where I'm coming from? Anyway, Annabeth disappeared at the same time Artemis did, and since Artemis is the goddess of the Hunt, I teamed up with a couple Hunters to track them down. Well, it was mostly that I was looking for Annabeth and the Hunters were looking for Artemis, and we happened to be going in the same direction. Luke had tricked Annabeth into holding up the sky, which should have killed her. He knew I'd follow her. He was trying to capture me."

She was stabbing viciously at the ground again with her knife, so I didn't ask if she meant holding up the actual _sky_. That seemed pretty impossible. Of course, impossible things were probably pretty likely to kill you too, so that would fit.

"When I saw Luke standing there, using Annabeth and Artemis as bait, I lost it. Annabeth should have been dead. If Artemis hadn't taken the sky from her…I still have nightmares about it. And Luke had the nerve to ask me to join him! By the end of that afternoon, I was the only one alive from the group who'd left New York. I knew I was going to have to go back and tell Nico his sister was dead. So I pushed Luke off the mountain."

I don't know what I was expecting, but Thalia saying, "I pushed Luke off the mountain" like most people say, "I think it might rain today" was too much. I started laughing.

Thalia punched me to shut me up, but she was grinning too. "He deserved it! And if I get the chance, I'll do it again. I only wish it'd killed him the first time. I was so mad at him that when Artemis asked me to join the Hunt, I took the oath before we'd even left Mount Tam."

"So that's what Jason meant!" I said, thinking back to the discussion around the fire. "You and Annabeth have been to Mount Tam before!"

Thalia nodded. "And we just can't wait to go back. Such fond memories."

"I'll bet," I said with a grin. "But hey, you'll get to see Camp Beta again."

"If it's still in one piece," Thalia muttered. "But that's more Jason's home than mine. Artemis gives me a lot more free rein than she should when it comes to boys since I didn't find Jason until after I'd already joined the Hunt."

"Wait, what does hunting have to do with boys?" I asked warily. For some reason I suddenly pictured Thalia chasing down the Stoll brothers with her bow and arrow.

She stared at me. "You don't know the Hunt?"

I shook my head. "I know. Go ahead and pull an Annabeth on me. You're wondering how I can know so little and still be breathing."

"Well, kind of, yeah. No offense," Thalia added. I rolled my eyes. Why would I _possibly_ take offense to that? "I just didn't expect that you'd have never learned about the Hunt, but I guess it makes sense if you only got to camp today. The Hunters are a group of girls who mainly take on monsters in the name of Artemis. You get immortality as long as you don't fall in battle, but you have to swear to give up boys."

"Seriously?" I asked. "Like, forever?"

"Uh huh. Most girls think it has to be a trick, because the decision is such an obvious one."

It took me a minute to realize Thalia was making fun of me. "Very funny. All boys are evil."

She grinned. "Exactly! The Hunt was the only group excluded from the no-demigod-contact rule. Demigods, nymphs, mortals—anyone can join the Hunt. You just have to be a girl."

"And hate guys," I added.

"That helps too. But like I said, Artemis pretty much lets me do my own thing to give me time with my brother. I almost feel like his mom, though. I mean, I'm frozen one day from turning sixteen, but I should be in my twenties. It's hard not to feel insanely old compared to him and Annabeth. And then it's weird whenever we're in a group, because Annabeth's already older than I am, technically. Jason soon will be too. Do I keep leading them around when they're thirty?"

"Well, you're doing a pretty good job so far," I said. When she narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously, I added, "Seriously. I've known you like four hours, and so far you've prevented everyone from killing each other. They all respect you."

"Maybe," she conceded. "But soon they'll realize they're taking orders from a fifteen-year-old. Half of these kids are older than I am, and I know I'll always think of them as just that: 'kids.' Even Jason picks up on it. He sees Annabeth as an older sister more than me, I think. Although that might have something to do with the way she's always treated him like the younger brothers she never got to know."

I tried to keep my face blank, but inside my stomach was doing back flips. Annabeth treated Jason like a younger brother? Was _that_ why she'd laughed when I accused her of liking him? Suddenly I liked Jason a lot better.

"What's up with you?" Thalia asked cautiously. Apparently I hadn't been too successful at hiding my excitement after all.

"Nothing," I answered quickly. Too quickly. With any luck, the darkness was hiding my red face pretty well.

Thalia's face broke into a wide grin. Good to know my luck was as bad as ever. "You like her!"

"What? No! Of course not! I don't even know what you're talking about!" Great. That was about as convincing as…well, something _really_ not convincing. I couldn't even think of a comparison that bad. Smooth, Percy.

"You do!" Thalia crowed. "You like her, and you thought Jason liked her too!"

"No!" I said again. I stopped. "But just out of totally normal curiosity, Jason _doesn't_ like her. Right?"

Thalia's grin went even wider. "No. He might challenge you to a duel to defend her honor or something if he's feeling weird—"

"And if I hypothetically liked her, which I don't!" I added quickly.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Right. Keep telling yourself that, Flipper. You know, you and Jason should really get to know each other. You'd get along fabulously." Her voice went a couple octaves higher. "'Piper and I are just friends, Thalia!' 'When I said she was hot, I meant that she needed to get out of the sun!' 'Piper was only sleeping on me because she was wiped out from training and didn't make it back to the barracks!'"

I smiled and tried not to feel like I was on top of the world. "Pretty shallow of him, going for a daughter of Aphrodite," I said, joking. Aside from being pretty, Piper didn't really seem like a daughter of Aphrodite.

"You haven't met her trusty knife yet," Thalia warned. "Annabeth's been teaching her how to use it."

I winced. "Yeah, I think I'll be avoiding her too. Just to be safe."

"Good plan." Thalia stood up and stretched before offering me a hand up too. "Come on. The luxury accommodations of the five-star Waldorf Astoria Hotel await."

I tried not to grimace as I faced my tent. I could already hear Grover's snoring from here. "I am never taking beds for granted ever again. Or walls."

"Wimp," said Thalia, punching me in the shoulder to emphasize her point. "I'll see you tomorrow. Wake-up's at 6 AM."

She must have seen the horrified look on my face, because she made a point of sighing theatrically. "Fine, but only because I'm nice and for some reason you listened politely to my life story."

I smiled. "Anytime."

"Yeah, well, still. Thanks," she said gruffly.

I waved good night and started toward my tent only to hear from behind me, "Don't forget! 6:05 tomorrow!"

I whipped my head around to see if she was serious, but Thalia had already disappeared.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hopefully that wasn't too confusing or explanation-heavy...but hey, no cliffhanger!**

**Thank you so much to my fantastic beta reader bibliophile114 (I know, you're all shocked by this point, right?). I can't tell you how much I love that no matter how busy you are, you make time to go through these horribly long new chapters for me! Of course, that means I'm being a terrible person by taking up all your free time, so I also have to thank you for being such a genuinely nice person and not making me feel incredibly guilty about it. So thank you!  
><strong>

**And again, thanks to all you amazing readers for your support as well! I know it gets kind of tired and cliché-sounding after awhile, but I really can't tell you how much I appreciate everyone reading. I hope you liked this one too!  
><strong>


	7. Travel Plans

**Chapter 7: Travel Plans**

The next day, true to her word, Thalia hauled us out of bed before the crack of dawn to start walking again. I grumbled as I packed up our tent, but I couldn't help feeling a little pleased as I noticed I was handling the early morning wake-up call better than practically everyone else. Apparently no one in our group was really a morning person. Even Thalia was snapping at anyone she could see, which was currently Will and the Stoll brothers. From what I could gather, Will's guitar had gone missing, and he was blaming the Hermes boys. It was probably a good bet they'd done it too, as Travis and Connor would have admitted themselves if they were being honest (although that was never a good bet anyway).

Hoping to avoid the fight, I glanced around camp. As I did, I caught a whiff of something that smelled suspiciously like coffee from a pot Leo was stirring over the fire. I quickly decided to join him.

"Hey dude," Leo greeted me as I dropped to the ground beside him.

"Hey." I gestured to the various pots and pans he was juggling. "Need any help?"

Leo grinned. "Nah, I'm good. 'Sides, I'm betting you're not here to help."

I tried to look offended. "Of course I am. You looked like you could use an extra pair of hands, that's all."

He shrugged, but his grin grew suspiciously wider. "Okay, man, have it your way. You better at cooking eggs or potatoes?"

"Oh, you know, about the same," I said, feigning nonchalance. As he quirked an eyebrow at me, I knew I'd failed. I sighed. "…Because I'm terrible at both and will probably give everyone here food poisoning. I admit it. I'm here for the coffee."

"Knew it," Leo said. He stirred the largest pot again. "Another couple minutes and we'll be acting like human beings again."

"There's only so much caffeine can do for you in that department, I'm afraid," said Rachel, abruptly sitting down next to me. "But if you keep making coffee, I just might talk Thalia into keeping you around anyway!"

"Thanks, Michelangelo," said Leo dryly, pointing to her paint-splattered jeans. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"So, Percy," she said, turning to me, "how was day one of living with other demigods?"

"Well, so far I've been held at swordpoint, marched to the point of exhaustion, taken on a death-defying Maserati ride, and threatened with my own murder about a zillion times," I said, ticking each one off on my fingers.

"Ah," said Leo wisely. "They started you off easy."

I stared at him, trying to tell if he was joking or not.

"My first day," he continued, "man. You think you're all prepared and everything, and then suddenly you're thrown off a sky bridge over the Grand Canyon."

"Is it technically a sky 'bridge' if it doesn't connect to anything?" asked Rachel absently, reaching for a piece of toast.

"There's a giant hole in the middle, so it's connecting one side to the other, isn't it?"

"I think that just makes it a skywalk."

"Okay, when you get thrown off one, _you_ can decide what to call it. Deal?"

"Plus, the way Piper tells it, the wind basically just blew you off."

"A _sky spirit_, not 'the wind.' A sky spirit _threw me off_."

"So what you're saying is the sky caused you to lose your balance or something?"

As Leo went to respond, he took his eyes off his cooking, and I finally saw what Rachel had been going for all along: the coffee pot. She reached around him, and Leo's reflexes were just a split second too slow. Rachel had it.

"Oh, not fair!" Leo whined, but Rachel danced effortlessly out of his reach. "I've known you for like twelve hours, and you're already stealing my stuff? Not cool!"

"Hey, I'm the only human here _not_ diagnosed with ADHD. I'm just doing my part to save you from yourselves!" Rachel chirped.

She put the coffee safely on the ground behind her while she went for a cup, and suddenly someone had grabbed the pot and was holding it out of reach. "Rachel, if there's anyone on the planet who doesn't need more stimulants, it's you."

I glanced up to see Annabeth shaking her head at Rachel disapprovingly. Annabeth looked tired, like she hadn't slept well last night, but that still put her ahead of the rest of us. "Tired" beat "walking zombie" any day of the week. At least Annabeth looked like she might not be completely interested in eating your brains before breakfast.

"Come on, Annabeth, please?" begged Rachel. "How am I supposed to get through another entire day of you and Percy flirting without caffeine?"

If Rachel wanted coffee, that was probably exactly the wrong way to do it. Annabeth was looking so furious that it took me a second to react to what Rachel had said.

"Wait, we were never flirting—" I started, but Leo's sniggering cut me off.

"Word around camp is you thought Jason was competition," he said with a smirk.

"No! Well, not exactly—wait, what do you mean, 'word around camp'? Does _everyone_ know about it?" I asked, panicking and feeling my face heat up.

I shot a glance over at Annabeth, who was definitely giving me a run for my money in the blushing department. She was speechless, which I probably would have enjoyed more if she'd been speechless about anything else in the world.

"So you _did_ think Jason was competition!" Rachel said triumphantly, never taking her eyes off the coffee in Annabeth's hands. Her plan seemed to have backfired, though. Annabeth's shock had left her gripping the pot so hard her knuckles were white.

"No!" I said again, but it was the least convincing 'no' I'd given yet, which was saying a lot. "And besides, even if I did—be quiet, I'm not saying I did!—that has nothing to do with us flirting or not! Because we definitely were not!"

"And anyway," said Annabeth, finally finding her voice, "don't you all have more important things to discuss than Percy's and my lack of love life? Like, oh I don't know, Kronos trying to take over the world? Or do you not care about the billions of lives that are being threatened here?"

I kind of doubted Annabeth was really thinking about the billions of lives that were being threatened right now either, but I didn't question her. Not when Leo and Rachel were looking at least a little ashamed. Instead I mouthed "thank you" at Annabeth, and she nodded slightly in return. Unfortunately Rachel caught it, and as her eyes narrowed suspiciously, I decided more drastic measures were in order.

"Hey, Annabeth, how about passing around that coffee?" I suggested, jerking my head toward Rachel's open mouth. Annabeth caught on quickly.

"Oh, yeah!" she agreed enthusiastically. Way too enthusiastically, I noticed with a wince. Luckily, however, the mention of coffee had done its job of distracting Rachel, and she was already reaching for a cup. She didn't even wait for Annabeth to pour; Rachel had grabbed the pot as soon as Annabeth's grip had loosened even a little bit.

"Thank the gods," Rachel said with a contented sigh, smiling at Annabeth. "For a minute there I thought I was going to have to threaten to tell Will where you hid his guitar."

* * *

><p>The sun was barely peeking over the horizon by the time everyone had eaten breakfast and we'd cleared away any sign of our camp. We packed all our stuff and gathered to listen to Thalia explain our next move.<p>

"Thanks to Death Boy and Flipper, here," she said, gesturing to Nico and me, "air travel is out, so we'll be traveling cross-country by train."

There were groans all around the group.

"Train? You do know it's not the '50s anymore, right?" Travis asked grouchily. He and Connor were in particularly bad moods after being accused of a theft they hadn't committed. I didn't say it, but I couldn't help thinking they were just upset they hadn't thought of it first.

"Yeah, I was thinking some sort of super-sweet limo set up," Connor agreed, looking at Rachel. I had no idea why, but Rachel didn't seem surprised.

Instead she held up her hands in defense. "Hey, don't look at me. I offered a private jet."

"And I was all for risking it," added Jason. I glared at him.

"We could always go by ocean liner," I suggested warningly, trying not to take too much pleasure in the flinch that crossed his face.

"Or we could do neither," Thalia said, cutting in with a roll of her eyes. "The prophecy mentions a choice between sea and air. That means we take neither. There's an Amtrak station in Iselin, New Jersey. That should be far enough away from camp that it's safe to board, but still less than a day's march." At the word "march," everyone groaned again.

Thalia ignored us. "Then we take the train to D.C., then Chicago, then finally San Francisco. We should be there in three or four days, tops. And no," she added, looking at Connor's raised hand, "we are not stealing cars and driving three thousand miles. We are doing this the legal and relatively safe way. That means your _only_ other option is hopping a bus with limited bathroom facilities. So keeping 'limited bathroom facilities' firmly in mind, are there any objections?"

Connor raised his hand again, and at Thalia's look, he insisted, "No stealing involved, I swear. Well, no more than usual, at least. It's not even a real objection."

"Fine, what?" she snapped impatiently.

Connor hesitated, probably trying to decide if saying something was worth the risk that Thalia would leave him behind. Finally he must have decided it was. "You know me, I'm all for legal" —we all stared at him for a minute, trying to decide if we were supposed to laugh or not— "but I can't think of anything in the world easier to track than a train. It comes with its own _schedule _to make sure of it."

Thalia sighed. "It's also the last thing Luke would expect us to take."

Travis spoke up then. "Sorry, Thals, but I know Luke. _We_ know Luke. You want to beat him? You're gonna have to think like a son of Hermes."

"So like a juvenile delinquent then?" asked Nico.

Travis grinned. "Exactly."

"Look, you're a pretty…_moral_ person," Connor said to Thalia, although the way he said "moral" didn't exactly sound like a compliment. "And Luke's going to count on that. He's going to be looking for trains, buses, even chartered limos." Again, Connor looked to Rachel, who rolled her eyes at him. "We have to go undetectable."

For a minute, I thought Thalia was going to chop off his head. Or something worse. "Gee, undetectable? Why didn't I think of that?" She snapped her fingers, pretending to be disappointed. "Oh, right, because I left all my spare invisibility cloaks at home!"

"Funny," said Travis dryly. "Before you go blasting us to death with your amazing powers of sarcasm, hear us out. I'm sure you considered all possible options on your first cross-country journey of constant near-death experiences. But we have a secret weapon you couldn't have known about then."

I was watching Thalia so intently that it took me a minute to notice Travis and Connor were staring at me.

"Wait, what?" I asked, panicking. "_Me_?" I'm pretty sure it came out as more of a squeak than an actual word, but they couldn't be picky at this point.

"I already told you, numbskulls, we're not going by water. The prophecy rules that out," Thalia told them with a scowl.

"Water isn't the only thing Poseidon's famous for," said Connor with a smirk. "I say we go visit the pegasus field."

Thalia stared at him. "You'd really rather travel the entire way to San Francisco on the back of a flying horse than spend three days on a train?"

"Yes," Travis and Connor said together, without hesitation.

"Um, I wouldn't," interjected Nico. "If, you know, the rest of us get a say at all."

"Yeah," agreed Will nervously. His face was slightly green, and I wondered how much of it had to do with his dad flying the sun around. "Isn't air travel bad? If nothing else, we know Kronos has sky spirits on his side."

"Plus the prophecy said no air!" added Piper.

Surprisingly it was Annabeth who spoke next. "Thalia and Jason should be able to keep the sky spirits at bay," she said thoughtfully, narrowing her eyes like she was staring at an invisible battle plan in front of her face. "And if we stayed relatively close to the ground…"

"Don't tell me you're considering this!" Thalia turned on her angrily.

Annabeth's expression hardened. I watched her uneasily, hoping we weren't all about to be treated to a rerun of last night's fight.

To my surprise, though, Annabeth took a deep breath and spoke calmly and rationally. "Of course I am. It makes the most sense. The Aphrodite cabin hasn't had any trouble riding the pegasi around camp, so there must be some sort of safe zone before 'the sky' really starts."

"Wait, I can ride flying horses? And no one thought this would be a good thing for me to know?" asked Piper, but Jason just shot her a sympathetic look while the rest of us focused on Annabeth.

She spun to face me. "Percy, have you ever felt unsafe riding a pegasus?"

I shifted from foot to foot, uncomfortable with how intensely she was studying me. "Um, no. Not that I remember. My dad always used to say a pegasus wouldn't let me go high enough to be a problem. Like they knew when to stop or something." I didn't mention that my dad also didn't sound too positive when he said it. Or that because he really didn't like me flying, my dad had only ever let me ride a pegasus like three or four times. I figured those were details no one really needed to know right now.

Annabeth nodded briskly. "There's our answer. As long as Percy can convince the pegasi to take us, I say we go for it."

"The prophecy says 'air,' not 'sky,'" Thalia warned her. She sounded desperate for some reason. "It's too risky to go up at all. I say no way."

Annabeth sighed. "I know it's not ideal for you, Thals, but we can fly low enough that no one would get hurt even if we fell. And we'll have you and Jason there for backup."

"And I'll bet Leo and I could whip up some sweet harnesses," offered Beckendorf, grinning at his half-brother.

Leo, who hadn't been looking too thrilled at the prospect of flying cross-country on a horse, suddenly perked up. "Yeah, totally! No sweat, just a couple modifications to your typical riding harness…"

Thalia still didn't look convinced. "This seems like a spectacularly bad idea."

"How 'bout we vote?" suggested Connor. "We'll make the decision as a group." He paused for a second. "No contest as far as I'm concerned, though."

Thalia sighed. "How is it that your dad's the god of travelers and you _never_ suggest the safe travel option?"

Travis shrugged again. "Hey, if we take the train, it's not exactly safe for the other travelers, now is it?"

Thalia frowned, like she hadn't thought about that.

"Okay, all in favor of going by train?" asked Connor.

Only Nico and Will raised their hands. When we looked over at Thalia questioningly, she just shrugged. Maybe what Travis had said about endangering the other passengers had gotten to her.

"All right, then the pegasi win!" said Travis, not even bothering to call for a vote. He even managed not to sound too smug about it, which impressed me. From what I'd seen, sons of Hermes weren't known for their humility.

"Hold up," Nico said with a scowl that would probably have stopped us in our tracks without him saying a word. "Whenever I've ridden a pegasus, it's been a disaster."

Annabeth looked a little guilty. "I know, but—"

"But nothing!" the kid interrupted. "Zeus hates me! There's no 'safe zone' for pegasus riding, and you know it! Percy gets a pass 'cause Poseidon created horses, not because he never flew high enough to feel Zeus' wrath."

Nico probably would have kept going, but Annabeth held up her hand and leveled her best I'm-serious-so-you're-going-to-listen-to-me-now glare at him. "Zeus is not going to blast you out of the sky. He's got his own problems to worry about. If it looks for one minute like you're in trouble, I'll personally shadow travel out with you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, I promise."

Nico's cheeks turned a little red, but it didn't stop him from muttering, "I don't see what everyone has against nice, solid ground anyway."

We all exchanged grins while he wasn't looking, until finally Thalia stood up. "All right, time to get this show on the road. If we get marching right away, we can be back near camp by noon."

Our grins disappeared more quickly than Leo's coffee.

* * *

><p>By the time we reached the pegasi a few hours later, it had finally gotten a little warmer. I might have appreciated this more if I hadn't already been drenched with sweat thanks to the pace Thalia set for us. We were there way before noon. I was going to remember this the next time Thalia wanted to get us up before the sun.<p>

The minute we got to the field, though, my spirits lifted. I always loved talking with pegasi. I'd never seen so many at once, and it was kind of cool the camp let them graze on their own (even if Annabeth had told me it was just because the camp didn't have the resources to keep them).

_Lord!_ I heard one say excitedly. As word got around, other pegasi picked up the call, flying down to meet us.

I tried not to sigh. As many times as I told pegasi not to call me anything but "Percy," it never seemed to get through. Although it _was_ a little nice to know an entire species who'd never consider killing me.

"Hey, guys!" I said. Then, after a moment, I added, "And girls. It's great to see some friendly faces!"

The pegasi's voices overlapped each other as they enthusiastically echoed my thoughts. I heard someone clear her throat behind me, and I knew I couldn't spend too long socializing.

"Hey, I'm really sorry, but I have a favor to ask," I said. I couldn't help feeling a little bad that I was only coming to visit because I needed something.

The pegasi didn't seem too bothered, though. _Anything, Lord!_

I cringed at the name, but I explained the situation to them anyway. "We need to get out to San Francisco, and we need to be able to do it without anyone knowing what we're doing. We need a really reliable, safe ride."

The pegasi seemed a little less sure once they'd heard the details. I got the feeling they knew San Francisco was a nasty destination.

_All of you?_ a white pegasus asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," I said. "And I would never even think of asking if it weren't an emergency. We'll stop and rest as much as you need, and we'll even have some of Zeus' kids to make the trip a little easier."

I sensed Thalia and Jason were less than thrilled with my promising their help, but they couldn't really do much about it now.

The pegasi talked amongst themselves for a little bit, and then finally, seven of the strongest-looking stepped forward.

_We'll do it,_ said the one in the lead, the white pegasus who had spoken a minute ago.

"Thanks," I said, relieved. I heard everyone behind me add their thanks as well, and the pegasi seemed a little more cheerful.

_We're thinking two each. Maybe make the party a little less obvious from the ground,_ the pegasus said.

I grinned. "Nice thinking. You sure you can handle it?"

The pegasus looked a little offended, if that was possible. _Of course we can. No way Guido's gonna let you down._

I smiled sincerely at him. "I knew you wouldn't."

_We're expecting some serious sugar cubes and hay afterwards, though!_ Guido added, tossing his mane.

"All you can eat," I promised. I turned to the rest of the group. "They said they can take us, two to a pegasus."

Thalia still didn't look too comfortable, but she swallowed hard and started dividing us into pairs. I thought she'd mainly go with the tent arrangements from the night before to minimize complaining, but she switched it up. I was about to object when I realized she was trying to distribute our weight as evenly as possible. I even heard her mumble something to herself about wanting to make sure the pegasi had no trouble staying in control and close to the ground.

I had to hold down a blush when Thalia winked as she put me with Annabeth, though. The only thing that made me feel a little better was that Jason definitely turned red when he found out he'd be riding with Piper.

Nico wasn't looking happy either, but since I couldn't imagine the kid looking happy in any situation short of the apocalypse, I decided not to worry about it much. Thalia had teamed him up with Beckendorf, which was pretty genius. Hopefully Beckendorf's naturally chill attitude would rub off on Nico. Besides, one look at Beckendorf and even Zeus himself would think twice about challenging him to hurt Nico. I think Nico appreciated that too, though he was way too busy being cool and aloof to say it.

"We're thinking we should be good without harnesses," Leo reported to Thalia after he and Beckendorf had talked about it for a minute. "We think it'll just restrict the pegasi, and that could be a giant mistake."

"Are you sure?" asked Thalia nervously.

"Relax, Pine Head," Clarisse said carelessly. "If you start to slip, I'll grab you and hold you down so hard you can't breathe."

I couldn't tell if Thalia was reassured by that or not, but she didn't say anything else. I felt a little sorry for her, having to put up with Clarisse for an entire pegasus ride. It was nice of Thalia to spare everyone else, I had to admit. And I had no doubt Clarisse would follow through on her offer (threat?) if Thalia so much as twitched on the pegasus.

_No way we're getting harnessed, Lord,_ Guido told me, overhearing the conversation. _We only look like horses._

"Don't worry," I answered him, trying to sound soothing. "No harnesses. We just talked about it earlier."

He didn't seem convinced, but he and the others stood still while we climbed aboard. He even helped talk his friend Porkpie into taking Nico without much complaint. Nico hadn't been kidding when he mentioned how bad pegasus riding usually went for him. Porkpie kept protesting that Nico smelled too much like death, but I doubted Nico could really do anything about that. I jokingly suggested we grab one of those pine-scented car fresheners and hang it around Nico's neck, but the kid didn't seem amused. He was glaring at me even harder than usual by the time we took off.

"So you know the way to this camp by San Francisco?" I asked as we flew.

I'd been asking Guido, since we were riding him out in front of everyone else, but Annabeth thought it was meant for her. "Sure, although I don't usually travel by pegasus. Last time I visited…well, let's just say I didn't get there by conventional means."

"You think of riding a pegasus as 'conventional?'" I couldn't resist teasing her. She turned to face me so she could punch my shoulder, but I saw she was smiling.

We sat in a comfortable silence for awhile, and I glanced behind us to make sure everyone was doing okay so far. Thalia had her eyes squeezed tightly shut, but no one else seemed to be having any issues. I figured she must be concentrating pretty hard on keeping the sky spirits away, although Jason didn't seem to be having any problems. In fact, he was staring at Piper, who had already fallen asleep against his chest.

"You know," Annabeth said suddenly as she saw me watching them, "you're not as bad as I thought you were going to be."

"Gee, thanks," I said sarcastically. I turned back to look at her. "And you're not as psycho-killer as I thought you were going to be. Or at least you're a much better actress."

"Gee, thanks," she said, mimicking me. "I did have a point I was getting to, though."

"I kind of figured. You usually don't talk to me unless you have a reason to yell at me."

I'd meant it as a joke, but Annabeth frowned. "I'm not _that_ bad, am I?"

Her eyes widened in realization before I had a chance to answer, which was good since I had no idea what I was going to say to that. "Oh, gods, I _am_ that bad. Thalia always tells me I'm too critical of people, but it's just because I haven't had great experiences with people in the past, and let's face it, people are generally pretty stupid—"

"Annabeth!" I said, cutting off her rambling. "Relax! I was kidding. Mostly."

She groaned. "I'm pretty sure you weren't. Besides, even if you were, I _have_ spent most of the past day and a half yelling at you. Granted, most of that _was_ your fault—"

"Hey! I thought we were talking about your issues here!" I said quickly.

The sides of Annabeth's mouth lifted briefly, like she was going to smile but thought better of it. "Sorry. It's not my fault that your faults bring out my faults."

It was my turn to punch her lightly. "Come on, I don't think that even made sense. Besides, you know it's not fair to use statements like that on a seaweed brain."

This time she did smile genuinely, and I tried desperately not to notice how it made her eyes sparkle. "Well, how else are you going to learn?"

"I'm ADHD and dyslexic. I prefer not to learn."

This time she actually laughed, and my heart rate sped up a little. If only I could find a way to make her laugh that didn't involve making fun of myself.

I cleared my throat. "So you had a point or something?"

Annabeth looked confused for a minute before she nodded and turned to look out over Guido's head. "I was just going to say…well, I was going to say you're not as arrogant as I was expecting. Or as arrogant as my mom said you were, I guess."

She wasn't facing me anymore (and I got the feeling that was deliberate), but I could see the tips of her ears go pink. "Anyway," she continued, "I just thought you should know that it doesn't really seem necessary to kill you anymore. I, um, I actually think I'd like it better if maybe you didn't, you know, die."

I grinned widely, glad she couldn't see it.

"Oh, wipe that stupid grin off your face," she snapped without turning around. I felt my jaw drop. "Honestly, Percy, you're easier to read than _Run, Spot, Run_."

"Sorry," I said, not really feeling all that sorry. Just for the heck of it, I rolled my eyes before she could tell me not to.

We didn't say anything for a minute. Then I broke the silence to say seriously, "I meant what I said at camp, you know."

"Hmm?" answered Annabeth drowsily, and I realized this must be what it was like for her to actually relax. I hated to ruin it for her.

"At camp," I repeated. "When I said you should sacrifice me to save everyone else."

"Don't worry," she said, stifling a yawn. "Sacrificing the world to save friends is your territory, not mine."

"Should that reassure me?" I asked, resisting the urge to roll my eyes again. "I'm serious, Annabeth. I won't go into this without knowing you'll do whatever it takes to keep western civilization safe."

She twisted around to face me again. "Look, Percy, when I said I thought it might be better if you didn't die, I didn't mean I preferred it over keeping everyone else on the planet alive. If you're really that worried, I promise to kill you. You'll make my mom extremely happy."

The sad thing was, that actually did make me feel a little better. But I wasn't smart enough to leave it alone. "What if you had to kill Luke?"

I saw Annabeth stiffen and immediately I wished I could take the words back. When she finally spoke, though, she didn't sound mad. Just a little sad. "Percy, have you ever had to make an impossible decision, knowing the whole time that it wasn't just your life you were deciding?"

"No," I said honestly. "Not unless you count my mom asking me if Grover and I wanted cake or pie for dessert."

She pretended to consider that, before nodding with mock gravity. "Once again, you've made my own problems seem petty and insignificant. So, how long do you think this trip is going to take?"

I recognized she was changing the subject without actually answering my question about Luke, but I decided to let her have it. Especially since I was kind of guilty of ruining it in the first place. "At least a couple hours until we touch down for a break and some food, I think. You've got some time if you want to catch a nap."

Annabeth started to protest, but she was interrupted by another yawn. She smiled ruefully. "I think maybe I will. Let me know if you need any help here."

"I've got it under control," I said with a grin. "Grab some sleep."

She nodded tiredly and laid her head down on Guido's neck, and I heard him snigger.

_That's one cute girlfriend you got there_, Guido said. I decided that didn't deserve a response as I pretended not to hear him chuckling.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: ...Oh my goodness. I'm incredibly sorry for the delay; summer caught up with me just like I thought it wouldn't. So yeah, you're welcome to yell at me all you want. I completely agree with you in advance. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter enough to make up for it a little?**

**Thanks again to bibliophile114 for beta reading, as usual! I'm constantly amazed by how I'll take ages to write a chapter and a few hours later it's beta read and ready to go. I know you called yourself a "lucky beta reader," but I'm not sure there's really any such thing when you have to deal with authors like me :) I really am running out of ways to say how awesome you are, because I'm definitely the lucky one!**

**And also, a sincere thanks to everyone for sticking with the story and continuing to read it, even when I get terrible about updating. You guys really are the best, and I love having the chance to write for you. So thank you!**

**(And now to start writing the next chapter right away...)  
><strong>


	8. Lucky Break

**Chapter 8: Lucky Break**

Guido offered to fly us all to the Camp Beta within a day, but Thalia vetoed the suggestion and forced us to rest for the night instead. I was surprised at first; I figured she'd want to get to camp as quickly as possible. But she looked a little green as she got off her pegasus, so maybe she was having trouble with the sky spirits and needed a break. Either way, I think Guido appreciated the consideration.

Guido was even happier when Leo produced the most giant pile of sugar cubes I'd ever seen from his tool belt. At least now I knew how Leo was getting all his cooking stuff, although the kid had some serious foresight if he'd stocked the thing with sugar cubes ahead of time. Or maybe they were part of his coffee supplies. Guido and the other pegasi were happy, so I didn't question it. Unfortunately that also meant that now they were all chattering away in my head about how much they loved Leo, so I had to put most of my effort into blocking them out. One of them had written a poem that rhymed "Leo" with "hero." Poetry wasn't a pegasus talent.

In fact, as far as I could tell, the only thing worse than pegasus poetry was pegasus songwriting, which I discovered when one of the other pegasi turned "Leo the Hero" into a chart-topping single. When the pegasi started singing it as a round, I decided it was time to get away for awhile.

"Going somewhere?"

I almost tripped as Annabeth appeared out of thin air in front of me.

"Don't _do_ that!" I hissed, trying to force my heart rate back to normal.

"Sorry," she said with a shrug. She certainly didn't _look_ sorry.

I saw her push a baseball cap into her back pocket. "So I'm guessing that's the magic hat Rachel was talking about?"

Annabeth nodded. "A gift from my mom a few years back. It's definitely come in handy. I still don't think Chiron knows who used to switch his Frank Sinatra records for Beyoncé." She grinned. "He thought it was the Hermes kids."

"Didn't the Hermes kids tell him it wasn't them?" I'd seen Travis and Connor protesting when Will had accused them of stealing his guitar. It didn't seem like they were crazy about automatically getting the blame.

"Sure," Annabeth said. "But their dad's the god of liars too. They didn't even believe each other."

"That's kind of terrible," I said, frowning. "I mean, when even your brothers and sisters don't believe you?"

Annabeth laughed. "Don't feel too sorry for them. They set up the system themselves so no one could ever be sure who'd done something. I don't think I've ever seen a Hermes kid punished unless he or she personally confessed. They really embraced the whole 'I have demigod siblings' thing."

"So why confess at all?" I had to ask. "If I had a built-in 'get out of trouble free' card, I'd keep my mouth shut."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "They can't stand the thought of other people getting credit for their work. It's the absolute best way to find out if one of them did something: praise another kid for it."

I decided to keep that in mind. "So where are you going?"

"Scouting," Annabeth said, gesturing to the trees around where we'd landed. "I figured someone should make sure Kronos isn't lying in wait behind a boulder somewhere."

"Mind if I tag along?" I asked. I tried to sound cool, but it came out sounding like scouting would be the highlight of my life, so I hurriedly cleared my throat and added, "Because, um, the pegasi are seriously giving me a headache, so I could use something constructive to do. If you, you know, want some help."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, and I realized she might take offense to that. "Not that I think you need help! I mean, I know you could do it on your own, and I might even just slow you down, but I think I could maybe help if you ran into trouble or something—"

She laughed again. "Relax, Percy. I wouldn't mind some company."

"Oh. That's, um, good. I'll just come with you then?" I hadn't meant it as a question, but my voice went up a couple octaves anyway. I cursed to myself and pretended I was busy digging Riptide out of my pocket so I wouldn't have to look at her. When did my hands get so sweaty?

"It would kind of defeat the point otherwise, Seaweed Brain."

The amusement in her voice and the use of her totally undignified nickname made me glare at her back as she moved into the trees. Oh well. At least she hadn't used "Flipper."

We moved silently through the wilderness, checking every possible hiding place for signs of any unwanted guests. After a perfectly uneventful half hour, we gave up on stealth. After another half hour, we gave up on caring altogether. If Kronos was waiting, he was the most patient Titan I'd ever met.

Okay, so _technically_ I'd never actually met a Titan. That wasn't the point.

I found a comfy-looking rock and sat down on it, letting Riptide contract back into pen form. Annabeth stared at me for a minute, like she couldn't decide what to yell at me about first. Then she gave up and flopped on the ground next to me.

"We should really get back to the others," she said half-heartedly.

"Yeah. We should," I agreed. Neither of us moved.

"It's kind of nice out here," she said after a pause. "I forget sometimes what it's like to actually leave camp. Not that I don't love it there. I do. But it gets a little tiring when you're constantly watching for enemies on the horizon. It's relaxing not to have to worry about coming up with battle plans on the spot, you know?"

I snorted. "Nope. For some reason my battle planning skills aren't exactly in high demand. It might have something to do with my 'attack first, think about whether or not it was a good idea later' motto."

I swore I could hear her roll her eyes while she spoke. "If only people bothered to spend a few minutes discussing philosophy with you. How could they possibly ever worry about your potential to destroy the world again?"

I knew she meant it as a joke, but my stomach clenched at the mention of me destroying the world. I decided it was time to change the subject. "Why are you so excited to be outside camp? You left all the time."

Annabeth pushed herself up to lean on her elbows and face me. "What are you talking about? I wasn't allowed to leave unless it was the typical some-idiot-demigod's-about-to-get-himself-killed-fighting-a-hydra rescue mission."

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Yeah, right. You're telling me you never left otherwise?"

She cleared her throat and wouldn't meet my eyes anymore. "Of course not."

"Oh, good, so there's no hard feelings over me blowing up a building that can't possibly have been your school!" I said cheerfully. I pretended to be confused for a minute. "But wait, didn't you say it _was_ your school?"

"Oh, just shut up," she grumbled. I grinned. Only two days and I already knew to savor victories against Annabeth.

"So what's the deal with that?" I asked curiously.

She sighed. "You have to swear you won't tell anyone."

"That you sneak out of camp to go to school? Do the other kids not know you're a nerd yet?"

Annabeth glared at me. "Swear, Percy."

I gave up. "Fine. I swear. Do I need to invoke the Styx too, or will you accept that?"

"It'll do for now," she said, like she was doing me a huge favor. "A few months ago, Apollo visited. He had a girl he needed us to bring to camp. It was getting too dangerous to have her outside godly protection."

I nodded. "Sounds familiar."

"Right. Well, the thing was, this girl wasn't a demigod. She actually went to school. And since we had to gather some intel on her before we knew if it was safe to reveal camp's existence, I was volunteered to go make friends with her."

"Why you?" It slipped out before I had a chance to consider how much it sounded like I thought she couldn't make friends. I really wasn't doing well in the thinking-before-speaking category today. Of course, that pretty much described the last sixteen years of my life, so I probably shouldn't have been surprised.

Luckily for me, Annabeth didn't seem to take offense. "At the time, I was the only Athena kid in camp who was the right age. Since the whole point was to observe her as non-threateningly as possible, someone had to take classes with her, and thanks to our ADHD and dyslexia, demigods don't mix well with school. Chiron decided it'd be better to have an Athena kid go undercover, since at least we actually liked learning. We could probably make it a few days without getting kicked out."

As she was talking, I suddenly realized something. "It was Rachel, wasn't it? The girl?" I asked. How many other mortal girls could there be at camp?

Annabeth looked a little annoyed, although whether it was because I'd interrupted her or because I'd actually figured something out on my own, I couldn't tell. "Yeah. She was pretty accepting of everything, considering. Did you know she can see through the Mist naturally? At first I thought it was because the air spirits were messing with it, but nope. She's grown up seeing monsters that no one else can see. I knew almost immediately that we didn't have to worry about her revealing our secrets. She's a little…"

"Insane?" I suggested, earning a smile from her.

"Exactly. She's a little insane, but she's an honest person. A little too honest sometimes, if you ask me," Annabeth said, scowling. "But the type of person you know you can trust. Does that make sense?"

"Perfect sense," I said, thinking about Grover. We'd become friends even before my dad had announced Grover was going to be stuck with me until I managed to make it a decade without killing myself. "But what's that got to do with you sneaking to school?"

Annabeth turned red. "While I was there, Rachel told me about all the different electives the school offered. They had a whole year of architectural design classes."

I remembered Travis (or was it Connor? One of them, anyway) mentioning Annabeth designing buildings when I'd first met them. I hadn't thought about it at the time. "So you want to be an architect?"

"Definitely," she said, her eyes sparkling. "Oh, gods, Percy. It's the most amazing thing ever. You design whatever you want, and your buildings influence people for years and years. Monuments are permanent. They're there long after you're gone."

I watched her. It sounded like there was something deeper than just a love of architecture behind that, but I kept my mouth shut. It was fun to see her actually excited about something for once. Even better, something that didn't include killing me.

"So you enrolled in the school again in the fall," I guessed.

Annabeth nodded. "Thalia helped me. She manipulated the Mist so everyone thought it was perfectly normal for me to show up for class whenever I could sneak away from camp."

"That was cool of her," I said. I would never admit it, but I was a little jealous. What would it have been like to have another demigod looking out for me? Don't get me wrong, Grover was amazing. But there were some things he couldn't understand.

Still, if the tradeoff for having demigod friends was going through what Annabeth had gone through, I'd have to pass. I wouldn't trade my mom for all the demigod friends in the world.

"Yeah, it was." Annabeth frowned, like she hadn't thought of Thalia helping her cheat as being cool before. "She's like the big sister I never thought I'd get. I'll be sixty and she'll be fifteen, and I'll still be asking her to do favors for me."

I laughed at the image of a sixty-year-old Annabeth chatting with a teenage punk rocker at the local high school, while Thalia stood behind her manipulating the Mist to make sure no one called the cops. "Think I can convince her I deserve the same deal?"

"Don't hold your breath," she said. She winced. "No pun intended, Fish Boy."

"That is _so_ less creative than 'Seaweed Brain,'" I teased her. Then, more seriously, I added, "I'm sorry for blowing up your school. Well, part of it, at least."

"Don't worry, I don't actually blame you. It was my own fault," Annabeth said, suddenly studying her fingernails intently.

I stared at her. "Um, how exactly was it your fault? Athena has magical water-heater-busting powers too?"

She started squirming. "Not exactly." When I raised my eyebrows in an obvious gesture for her to continue, she sighed. "There's a reason demigods aren't supposed to go to school. We attract monsters. I thought…I thought if I was only there for a couple hours every week, it'd be okay. Once I even thought I might have seen a monster, but I ignored it. I told myself that even if I _had_ seen a monster, I could just stop coming and it'd leave the school alone. But I couldn't make myself stop. I knew the Mist was breaking down, and I might never get a chance like this again. I didn't even notice the obvious signs of a hydra nest."

I watched her anxiously retie her ponytail a few times before I spoke. "You can't blame yourself because you didn't notice a hydra nest."

Annabeth sighed. "You don't get it, do you? If I hadn't gone in the first place, the hydra wouldn't have been there at all. I was selfish, and because of it I could've killed every kid in that school. And that wasn't even the worst of it!"

"What?" I asked when she didn't continue. I couldn't help wondering if I really wanted to know.

She took a deep breath, and then she lifted her head to look me straight in the eyes. "My mom congratulated me on my brilliant strategy to get rid of you."

I gulped. "She really, _really_ hates me, doesn't she?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"No. Just your father," she replied. She wasn't smiling, but she didn't seem totally depressed anymore, so I took it as a win.

I hesitated, but then I decided I had to know. "Did you really set it up so the hydra would kill me?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Even I'm not _that_ good. But when you showed up to fight it, I couldn't help it. I was relieved. I thought it'd kill you, and my selfish mistake would end up saving the world. I wouldn't have to feel guilty about it."

She stared at me without blinking as she added softly, "I'm not proud of that, Percy. I know that doesn't help much, but I thought you deserved to know."

I'm sure I was so shocked my mouth was hanging open, but it wasn't from disgust or horror like she must have assumed. To be honest, I'd accepted a long time ago that she wanted me dead. When she'd admitted earlier that she'd changed her mind, any resentment I'd had over it vanished. All that "I seriously want to murder you" stuff seemed like ages ago, even if it'd only been a couple days. Either way, no point in holding a grudge over it now, right?

I was starting to think I forgave people a little too easily. What kind of person takes two days to get over someone vowing to kill him?

Anyway, I took a deep breath and gathered every ounce of courage I had, although I had no idea what to say to reassure her. Just for a second I thought about how easy it would be to not say anything at all and close the gap to kiss her instead. After all, I wasn't great with words. But I figured I was probably worse with kissing, since at least I had experience talking. Besides, I really didn't want to give her a reason to give up her newfound I-don't-think-you-should-die attitude.

"Annabeth—" I started, but even if I'd known how to finish, I didn't get a chance.

"Aw, how touching," said a cold voice behind us. My head snapped toward the sound, and there was Luke—or Kronos, or whoever he currently was—leaning nonchalantly against a tree. He wasn't even looking at us. He was polishing his sword, cleaning off some invisible speck of dirt.

Annabeth swore under her breath.

"Language, Annabeth!" Luke said, chuckling. He turned deadly serious. "Your knife. On the ground. Now."

He turned to me. "And that handy pen of yours too. Clever camouflage, I have to admit. It's a good thing you don't pay attention to your surroundings or I might have missed how you hide your sword. Better put it on the ground too, just to be safe."

Annabeth's eyes flicked to mine, and I knew instantly what she was thinking. There were two of us and only one of him. We'd never get a better chance.

She nodded almost imperceptibly and suddenly she was moving so fast even I was caught off-guard. As she charged Luke, I uncapped Riptide and ran to help. As much as I was starting to seriously hate the guy, it was clear Luke was an amazing swordfighter.

Luckily I was pretty good myself.

Luke's sword darted every which way, looking for openings in Annabeth's attack. And with her main focus on distracting him while I armed myself, there were definite openings. Especially since it was obvious from the very beginning of the fight that while Annabeth was going the non-lethal route, Luke wasn't limiting himself. As she aimed the knife toward his arm, he managed to twist away, his sword inches away from her side.

I decided not to find out if Annabeth could fight her way out of that. I thrust Riptide forward to collide with Luke's sword. The two weapons made a resounding _clang!_ that I was sure they could hear in New York.

It was the strangest fight I'd ever been in. I'd never battled another demigod before; the closest I'd come were simulations with my dad. I'd also never battled alongside another demigod before, but Annabeth and I moved effortlessly with each other. I wondered if all demigods worked so seamlessly together. Somehow I doubted it. If they did, wouldn't Luke be able to anticipate our moves better? He must have fought with demigods before.

Not that he was doing too badly on the anticipation front. He was parrying every blow I threw his way while still defending himself from Annabeth's quick knife work. That alone would have been impressive. I hadn't seen anybody as good with a sword as she was with a knife. The only thing that could possibly have kept Luke on his feet this long was knowing her fighting style.

But even that wasn't going to save him. Luke didn't know how I fought, and Annabeth apparently had tricks he hadn't seen too. With me on offense and Annabeth looking to take advantage of any lapse in concentration, Luke didn't stand a chance. Our swords clashed furiously, and as he stumbled, I could see the constant onslaught was taking its toll on him.

Something was off, though. He should have been worried, or angry, or more determined, or _something_. Instead he just smirked, like he found the whole fight amusing. If he was holding back, though, he should have used his skills before now. He was losing.

Annabeth fell back, but I didn't have time to question why. I was focused on finally taking this jerk down. I grinned, knowing at last I had the upper hand. There was a small stream right behind Luke. As I continued to attack furiously, I spared a little concentration to call the water toward us. If we could capture him…

"Percy!" Annabeth shouted, breaking my concentration. The water splashed to the ground, and I tripped as I fended off a blow from Luke's sword. I didn't even spare her a glance. Here I was fighting for my life, for _our_ lives, and she was distracting me?

As mad as I was at her, though, some part of me trusted her enough that I realized she wouldn't have said anything without a very good reason. So even as I knocked Luke to the ground, I hesitated. And that was when I noticed we were surrounded.

By the time I looked up, a black-haired kid with an eye patch had already taken Annabeth's knife. He was holding a sword to her throat. Luke's smirk grew wider.

"I'm going to go ahead and assume you surrender, Percy. Because otherwise I assure you, Annabeth's life expectancy is going to drop dramatically in the next few seconds. And I don't think you could live with that."

He was right, and we both knew it. I stepped away, letting him up.

"That's more like it. Now let's collapse that pen of yours, shall we?" Luke watched as I capped Riptide then held out his hand expectantly. I growled, but I handed it over anyway. Even if I were willing to sacrifice Annabeth, there was no way I was fighting my way out of this. There were at least two dozen assorted monsters and humans, probably demigods, holding position around us. I never would have made it.

"Oh well. At least now I know I can beat you in a fair fight," I said, looking him in the eye.

"If I'd wanted to win, you'd be dead right now," Luke answered dangerously. I couldn't tell whether that was bravado or fact, so I stayed silent.

Luke motioned another kid to take me over to where Annabeth was standing. He searched our pockets, confiscating Annabeth's baseball cap and the couple sugar cubes I'd stashed away for the pegasi. I guess if a sword could contract into a pen, he wasn't taking any chances.

After he was done, he casually tossed everything in a pile on top of Annabeth's knife. I carefully kept my face blank, but my heart skipped a couple beats. Luke had thrown Riptide down too. He didn't know it'd reappear in my pocket in a few minutes. I didn't know what good it would do us against more than twenty enemies, but at least it was something.

Luke paced slowly back in forth in front of us, clearly enjoying his victory. "You know, I had reports that the two of you hated each other. I'm starting to think some of my spies have a flair for the dramatic."

He paused like he was waiting for a reaction from us, but we both just glared defiantly at him.

"Suddenly not so talkative, hmm? A shame. You had plenty to say a few minutes ago." He stopped in front of me, twirling his sword just in front of my face. "Shouldn't you be calling for your little friends? I seem to recall that's the only way you can beat me."

"I just beat you fair and square—" I said hotly, breaking our silence. Annabeth cut me off, though.

"You don't know where they are, do you?" she said, studying Luke thoughtfully.

He turned his attention to her. "We'll find them soon enough. Demigods, mortals, satyrs, _and_ pegasi? Not even Hecate has a spell capable of covering up that mess."

"You're underestimating Thalia," said Annabeth, her eyes never leaving his face.

A muscle clenched in Luke's jaw. "I never underestimate Thalia," he spat. "If anything I overestimate her."

"Still ticked she was too smart to fall for your 'I just want to make the world a better place' crap?" I couldn't resist asking.

Annabeth shot a warning glare at me. "You knew she knew you poisoned her tree," she said to Luke, deftly drawing his attention back to her. "You can't honestly have expected her to join you any more than you expected me to join you."

Luke sneered at her. "No, I wasn't surprised you stuck by your mom. You were never good at doing what needed to be done." A flash of hurt crossed Annabeth's face, but she hid it quickly. I couldn't tell if Luke had noticed. "But I thought Thalia was stronger than that. After all, by poisoning her tree, I brought her back, didn't I? Instead she joins the stupid Hunters and puts herself under Artemis' protection. Turns out she's a coward too."

Something about the way he said that made me think back to my talk with Thalia last night. He'd captured Annabeth once to lure Thalia to him, hadn't he? I'd thought he was after me in New York, but…

"You weren't looking for me at all," I said, my eyes widening. "You were tracking Thalia!"

He arched an eyebrow at me. "Not as dumb as you look, are you?"

I met his gaze evenly. "If you're waiting for me to rise to the bait, you should know avoiding bait is, like, the first thing my dad teaches his kids."

Luke grinned a little. "You know, I think I could like you, kid." I wondered if that was his idea of a compliment. Probably. He didn't seem like he really got out much.

"Yeah, I was going for Thalia," he continued. "I hit Camp Beta hoping to grab the squirt and convince her to trade herself in to save him."

Oh, I was so calling Jason "squirt" from now on. I mean, I knew we were basically the same age, but I couldn't _wait_ to see the look on his face.

Luke kept his tone light as he went on. "Did you know I'm a naturally lucky guy, Percy? She was already there. But then that gods-forsaken she-wolf smuggled them out of camp. I was forced to capture everyone and burn Beta to the ground." He shrugged as if to say, _but what can you do?_

Annabeth was staring at him in shock. "Beta's gone?"

"Oh, Annabeth," Luke said, chuckling. "What kind of message would it send to my troops if I'd let that defiance stand?"

"What about Alpha?" I asked, my heart sinking. He might not have gone to New York to look for me, but he'd definitely attacked because I was there. I suspected Annabeth might go back to trying to kill me if I'd just gotten all her siblings captured. Or worse.

For the first time, though, Luke looked annoyed. "Alpha's older than Beta. It's had more time to strengthen its protections. We couldn't get through the defenses as easily, especially once my attention was directed elsewhere. It still stands. For the moment."

I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. "So how'd you know we were here?"

"You think you're the only one with a pegasus?" Luke asked, but then he scowled. "Of course, considering ours spent so long stalling that we almost lost your trail, maybe we'd have been better off without one."

Before I could make a brilliant comeback on behalf of the pegasus community, Annabeth spoke. "So what now? You're planning on trading us for Thalia again?"

"Because she hates you, you know. She's really looking forward to pushing you off another mountain," I added helpfully.

From the way Annabeth sighed and started rubbing her temples, I got the feeling she didn't fully appreciate how helpful I was being.

Luke just seemed amused, though. "She hates _Kronos_. Once she's had a chance to understand—"

"No, I'm pretty sure she hates you, not Kronos," I interrupted him. "Well, she probably hates Kronos too. But she _definitely_ hates you. She was really clear on that."

"You know, Percy, sometimes in hostage situations we try to avoid upsetting the person holding the sword," Annabeth said dryly.

"Really? Must have missed that chapter in the demigod handbook." I shrugged.

Luke ignored us. "It doesn't really matter. I have no intention of going to Thalia again. Once I found out about our friend Percy here, I knew he'd make a far better…partner." As he said it, he smiled nastily.

Annabeth frowned. "You're giving up on Thalia?"

He had his sword against her throat in an instant. I instinctively tried to get between them, but the guy behind me forced me back down. Annabeth, on the other hand, didn't even flinch.

"_I_ don't give up on people," Luke hissed. Everything was quiet for a minute as he and Annabeth stared each other down.

Behind Annabeth, the guy with the eye patch cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um, sir, maybe it would be best to take the son of Poseidon and go."

For the first time I looked around at the monsters and kids surrounding us, and I saw they all looked uneasy. Something about the way Luke was acting was weird even by Luke standards. In particular none of them seemed happy to see Annabeth, because they kept fidgeting uncomfortably whenever they glanced her way.

Luke must have sensed the effect he was having on his troops as well, because he took a deliberate breath and stepped back. When he spoke, his tone was conversational again. "As I was saying, I have no need for Thalia any longer. She will join me soon enough, once she sees her side is doomed. Percy is much more uniquely suited to my current task."

"Um, what task is that, exactly?" I asked. "Because I'm not so good with tasks. It's that whole ADHD thing."

"Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem," Luke said lightly. "I hear you concentrate just fine when your friends' lives are on the line."

He raised his eyebrows in Annabeth's direction, and my blood ran cold. There was no mistaking what he meant. He might have cared for her when she was little, but he wasn't above threatening her life to get what he wanted now.

"I'm so pleased you two have been getting along so well lately!" Luke said cheerfully. "To think I was worried you didn't like each other and I wouldn't be able to use you after all. How very fortunate I was wrong!"

As he gestured for his accomplices to haul us away, he winked at me. "I told you I was naturally lucky, didn't I?"

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><p><strong>AN: I know, I know, it's terrible this took so long. I unfortunately haven't had much time for PJO lately, but I'm glad I could upload this before SoN on Tuesday! (When I originally wrote that, there were about ten exclamation points after "Tuesday." I'm a little excited.)**

**Thank you yet again to bibliophile114 for taking the time to look over this, like always! I just realized the character limit on the DocX comments cut off the end of my thanking you in advance, so hopefully I didn't sound like _too_ much of a jerk when I sent this to you for review...and you actually had eerily perfect timing when you sent it back, because today was the first time I've even had a chance to think about writing lately. So thank you for continuing to make time to beta read AND for reassuring me this chapter wasn't totally awful. I still don't deserve you!**

**And another heartfelt thanks to everyone who's continued to read this even with the sporadic updates. I probably don't deserve you guys, either, but I promise I appreciate you even more because of it!  
><strong>


	9. When in Rome

**WARNING! This chapter contains definite Son of Neptune spoilers. So, turn back now if that presents any kind of moral dilemma for you!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 9: When in Rome<strong>

Annabeth and I had been frog-marched out of the forest as quickly as Luke and his merry band of traitors could march us. We'd both tried deliberately stalling as much as possible; I'd tripped over a thousand invisible roots, and at one point, Annabeth had completely freaked out the guy with the eye patch by telling him she was going to throw up on his sandals. Luke kept us moving pretty fast, though, and there was no sign of Thalia or anyone else coming to our rescue. Right now, I'd have even taken Jason. Luke was careful to steer me away from any water sources, but it wasn't like he could've hidden the sky from a son of Jupiter.

Finally, we emerged from the trees to find a whole war camp set up on the outskirts of a small city.

"Camp Beta," breathed Annabeth, staring at it in shock.

Luke smirked. "Hardly. Although I have to admit, I admire those legionnaires' work ethic. I always thought they were exaggerating about being able to break down and rebuild camp in a couple days. Turns out they weren't exaggerating at all. _So_ lucky."

Annabeth growled slightly under her breath, but she didn't say anything.

"Of course," Luke continued, "we didn't need _all_ of Camp Beta. And there's only so much the legionnaires can carry while they're being forced to march cross-country. It was a shame to leave things behind, but luckily it ended up being mostly just the campers' personal possessions. And it turns out those burn really, really well! But then, who really needs reminders of home and family anyway, right Annabeth?"

Annabeth still didn't say anything, but that was mostly because now she was too busy punching everyone she could get her fists on.

It maybe wasn't the most well-thought-out strategy, but it was initially incredibly effective. Particularly since Luke had tied our hands behind our backs before we'd left the forest, so Annabeth throwing punches had to have been pretty low on their list of expected attacks. I cursed silently. I could feel Riptide in my pocket, but _my_ hands were still uselessly tied behind me. I went around head-butting every monster and demigod who came my way, but I wasn't really much help.

Not that it mattered in the end. As fierce as Annabeth was, she was way outnumbered. She'd taken out at least half a dozen enemies before anyone even touched her, but eventually they overwhelmed her again. I cried out as I saw her take a blow to the head.

"Enough!" commanded Luke. He walked over to Annabeth, who was crumpled on the ground with blood running down her face. "You are the stupidest strategist I've ever met sometimes, Annabeth."

"Go to Tartarus," she managed, spitting blood on his white sneakers.

"That's disgusting," he commented mildly. "It's a good thing I have plenty of practice washing other people's blood out of my clothes."

He gestured for the kid with the eye patch (who was nursing a bloody nose, I noticed with satisfaction) to haul Annabeth to her feet.

"Where should I take her?" the kid asked when it became obvious Annabeth wasn't really capable of walking on her own.

"The prisoner barracks, of course," said Luke. He chuckled. "At least until I can think of something worse."

* * *

><p>The prisoner barracks weren't really so terrible. A little smelly, sure, but there were already a few other prisoners to keep us company. Plus, it even had stacks of beds for us, which was where I directed Annabeth as soon as we were shoved in the door. I paused just long enough for Mr. Eye Patch to cut through the ties around my wrist before I helped her hobble over to sit down.<p>

"That was really stupid," I told her. "And this is coming from me. It's like _the_ expert opinion."

"Yeah, well, he was being a pig. Besides, I wanted to see how he'd react," she said.

"And you were expecting something other than 'badly'?" I tried not to sound too sarcastic since she was hurt. I don't think I managed it.

"Well, no," she admitted. "But he's captured me before, you know. And it's never been that bad. He's never...look, Percy, you know in the forest? When he threatened my life to make you cooperate?"

I nodded darkly. You don't forget something like that.

"He's never come close to that before. Well, okay, he did almost kill me with the whole sky thing, but he's never been so...casual about it. Kronos is gaining power. Fast." She winced as I ripped off a piece of my shirt that was still relatively clean and used it to dab at the cut on her face. "Look, you don't have to do that; I can fix it myself if you let me get to my pocket-"

"Here," said a voice beside me, interrupting her. I turned to find a dark-haired girl about my age holding out a small bowl of water.

I smiled at her and took it. "Thanks." She didn't acknowledge my thanks other than to duck her head slightly, but she didn't leave. She just stood there and watched as I carefully cleaned Annabeth's face.

"I can do that myself, you know," Annabeth grumbled, but she didn't make any move to stop me.

I grinned at her. "Nah, you'd probably get dizzy and fall over."

She glared at me and tried to take the bowl of water, but I held it out of her reach.

"Seriously, Annabeth, relax," I said, grabbing her hand. "I have nothing else to do, and you should be resting."

"Resting isn't recommended if you might have a concussion," she mumbled stubbornly.

"That's just sleeping," I informed her.

"Keep doing that and I _will _be sleeping," Annabeth murmured, but I don't think it was intended for us to hear. I grinned at her anyway and kept mopping blood off her face. Romantic.

"Will she be all right?" asked the dark-haired girl. It might have been my imagination, but she sounded...unconcerned. To put it nicely.

"I'm guessing so," I said, wrinkling my nose. "It looks a lot worse than it is, I think. But I've also never taken a first aid course in my life, so..."

The girl laughed a little. "I thought all gods gave their children first aid lessons as part of their training?"

"My dad's Poseidon," I explained. "His version of first aid? 'If you get hurt, find water.' Although now that I think about it, that's his advice for almost everything. He has kind of a one-track mind."

The girl laughed again. "Kid, I think I like you."

"You would be the first this week," I said dryly. "I'll settle for you not immediately trying to kill me. I'm Percy."

I held out my hand for the girl to shake, and I had to clench my teeth to keep from yelping when she took it. Holy Zeus, this girl was _strong._ "Reyna. Daughter of Bellona. I was one of the praetors of Camp Beta."

"Um, sorry, I'm sort of new at this," I confessed. "I don't know what that means."

"You're Greek. You're not expected to know," she told me, although she sounded a little bitter about it.

"Sorry?" I offered. "For being Greek, I guess?"

She watched me for a second, then plopped down on the bed next to us with a sigh. "No, I should apologize," she said. "It's not your fault. We resent the Greek-born demigods a lot more than we should."

"Oh, you're Roman?" I asked, finally piecing it together.

She stared at me. "That was sort of why I took the time to go through the whole 'daughter of Bellona' thing."

"_Really_ new at this," I said. "Don't worry. Sooner or later you get used to explaining things to me like I'm five."

Annabeth snorted. The vote of confidence was just what I needed right now.

"So, why all the resentment?" I asked Reyna. "Just 'cause we've got the better 'surviving past age thirteen' track record?"

She scrutinized me again. "You met Jason," she decided at last.

I dabbed at a cut on Annabeth's scalp a little too hard, judging by her "ow!"

"Sorry!" I cleared my throat. "Uh, yeah, might have met him. Blond hair, scar on his lip, really resistant to the idea that sons of Poseidon might have useful skills?"

Reyna nodded. "You've met Jason. But don't be too hard on him. His father is king of the gods. That's tough to live up to. Besides, I doubt he honestly thinks Poseidon's sons have no useful skills. It's probably just you."

I looked up sharply to see a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She was making fun of me. This girl, who looked like she'd never cracked a joke in her life, was making fun of me. Apparently I bring out the best in people all across the country.

"If we see him again, I'll be sure to correct him," Reyna continued. "You appear to have a promising future in the field of nursing."

Annabeth snorted again. "I'm not so convinced."

"Do you want to do this yourself?" I asked her.

"I _said_ I did," she pointed out, cracking open an eye to glare at me. It felt a little half-hearted, though. "Give me the stupid water."

"Hello, son of Poseidon here? Water is my domain. Even the stupid water." I almost laughed as she tried to glare harder. It just made her look more pathetic. Which was something I was never going to tell her. Ever. "I'll call you when we need someone to watch a bowl of battle plans or something."

She muttered something under her breath that I didn't catch, but other than that she didn't object.

"I think this is the first time I've ever seen Annabeth Chase back down from a fight," Reyna observed.

"Wait, you know each other?" I asked. I looked from one to the other, like that would magically explain everything.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. Well, the one that I could see, anyway, and even that made her wince. "Of course we know each other."

They didn't seem to like each other a ton, though, I noted. Annabeth still hadn't so much as glanced at Reyna, and Reyna didn't look all that upset about Annabeth showing up with blood dripping down her face. Still, she'd brought water _and_ asked if Annabeth was going to be okay, so that had to count for something, right?

"And I've never seen Annabeth willingly submit to being taken care of like a child. By a boy, no less," Reyna teased. Although it didn't seem as friendly as when she'd been making fun of me.

Annabeth apparently thought so too, because she shot to her feet, forcing me to jump out of the way. The bowl of water went flying.

"Oh, yeah? And what do you know?" Annabeth demanded hotly. "I wasn't _submitting_ to anything!"

I'm no expert, but I think her words might have had a little more impact if she could have said them without clutching the bed behind her for support.

"That's certainly not how it appeared," said Reyna smugly. "In fact, from what I've seen, there's only ever been one boy-"

I grabbed Annabeth around the waist before she could lunge for Reyna's face. We fell backward, leaving me with the job of making sure she didn't hurt herself further while also making sure she didn't hurt Reyna period.

"Look," I said through clenched teeth, tightening my grip on Annabeth when she wouldn't sit still, "how about we put this feud on ice for awhile? At least until both of you can see straight again?"

Annabeth stopped struggling to eye Reyna warily. Reyna shrugged back. I decided that was as close to agreement as I was going to get.

Still, while I carefully released Annabeth, I moved so I was sitting in between them. I wasn't taking any chances.

A slightly awkward-looking Chinese boy brought Annabeth a strip of cloth and another bowl of water, and this time she snatched it without giving me a chance. The boy gave me a sympathetic glance, then hurried over to where the other kids were huddled. I had to give them credit. They were extremely good at pretending not to eavesdrop.

"So, probably shouldn't ask why you two hate each other, huh?" I joked. I instantly regretted it.

"I don't hate her," Reyna said, throwing Annabeth an icy glare that totally backed up her words. "Although if I have to spend the next few days listening to her defend the sadistic jerk who captured us and destroyed our home, I might change my mind."

"Maybe if you'd listened to me in the first place, you wouldn't be in this mess," retorted Annabeth. "But no. Why listen to someone who knows your enemy inside and out? Especially if she's _Greek_?"

"I wouldn't listen to you if you were the last battle strategist on earth, and you know it has nothing to do with you being Greek!" Reyna spat.

I stepped in before we were back in let-me-rip-out-all-your-vital-organs territory. "That reminds me. You were going to tell me where this resentment comes from?"

Annabeth grumbled a little, probably upset she wasn't going to get a chance to fight again. Turning her back on us slightly, she focused intently on cleaning herself up. I didn't think I'd be getting an answer from her.

"Jason was right," Reyna said, which made for my least favorite change of topic all day. She was watching me like a hawk, or at least that's what it felt like. I tried to meet her gaze without flinching. "It's infuriating to see how many Greeks are walking around compared to Romans. It's not like the Roman aspects of the gods have fewer kids, you know. No, this little isolation arrangement worked against us. Majorly."

"How so?" I asked, partly out of genuine curiosity and partly out of a deep-seated desire to keep Annabeth in one piece. Or, well, fewer pieces, given her current state.

"We don't have satyrs," Reyna said bluntly. "We have fauns, and they aren't known for their protective qualities. You Greeks are taught to fight on your own and seek individual glory. The Romans prize group formations and team strategy. How would _you_ form a legion of Roman demigods when you don't know any others exist?"

"It might be a little difficult," I admitted.

"No kidding," Reyna huffed. "You Greeks have every advantage."

"It hasn't exactly been a walk in the park for us either," Annabeth muttered. "More like a long-distance sprint. Ahead of a lava flow."

Part of me agreed with her (wouldn't "every advantage" have included knowing things like "there's a doomsday prophecy with your name on it," after all?), but part of me could see where Reyna was coming from. I'd have been dead years ago if it hadn't been for Grover, no question. Who knew what else I took for granted?

"At least someone taught you to run," Reyna said sharply. "We're supposed to be self-reliant, and yet our entire history is nothing but team reliance. We're not taught to be heroes, because the Roman aspects of the gods don't think that way. We're barely taught to survive. You know the statistics."

She was talking to Annabeth, but I answered anyway. "Only twelve Roman demigods over age thirteen," I recalled.

Reyna nodded. "Well, thirteen now. But still, over half of those are alive today. You do the math."

I didn't want to, and not just because I really was terrible at math. "Wow."

"Yeah, 'wow,'" Reyna repeated sarcastically. "It's true that our numbers are growing, however. The formation of the camps has helped with that. But that's only been in recent years, and we have to actually make it to camp first."

"You did okay," I pointed out.

"I got lucky," she snapped. Yeah, I think I touched a nerve there. Whoops. "My mom's the goddess of war. She knows battle strategy."

"My mom's whole _domain_ is battle strategy," Annabeth couldn't resist adding. I barely held in an eye roll.

"My point is," Reyna continued, ignoring her, "she knew there was a loophole in the vow to separate demigods. Full siblings, siblings with the same mother _and_ father, were exempt. So after she had my sister, she had me. We kept each other safe until we found someone willing to take us in and protect us."

"Um, you do know how ominous that sounds, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, 'cause the person who took them in was an evil witch," Annabeth tossed over her shoulder.

"Annabeth, you really shouldn't say things like that about other people's-"

"No, Percy, she was a literal witch," Annabeth explained with a smirk. "Circe. Ran a day spa under the name 'C.C.,' I believe."

"Yet another home you and that Hermes slime ruined," Reyna snarled.

I raised an eyebrow at Annabeth.

"Trip to obtain the Golden Fleece and save camp. Tell you about it later," she said, waving me off.

I figured it'd be better not to reveal Thalia had already covered the basics on that. No mention of an evil day spa, though. I definitely would've remembered an evil day spa.

"So then how'd you end up across the country at Camp Beta?" I asked Reyna.

"She didn't." Again, it was Annabeth who answered. "Well, not at first."

"A pack of centaurs brought us to Alpha," Reyna agreed. "But there was no way I was going to stay with _them._"

It was pretty obvious who "them" was. I didn't ask for clarification.

"We'd been toying with the idea of a second camp for awhile," explained Annabeth. "It was too difficult to get everyone from the west coast safely to Alpha. So when Reyna and Hylla-that's her sister-wanted to establish a Roman-based camp, we told them to knock themselves out."

Catching my expression, she added, "Not literally, Seaweed Brain! We helped them and everything!"

"The traitor was gone before we got to Alpha," Reyna said. "We thought we'd be able to design a camp in peace. One that focused on doing things the Roman way."

She didn't add, "the right way," but I assumed it was implied.

Annabeth opened her mouth, and I could see the "_oh, and how'd that work out for you?_" forming. So before she could say anything, I said, "So is everyone here a Roman?"

It was a stupid comment; there were at least a dozen kids in the room, and she'd already said barely that many had even survived pre-adolescence, but I was desperate.

"Just three of us," Reyna explained, graciously not commenting on the obvious stupidity. "Me, Frank, and Octavian."

The Chinese boy from before raised a hand at her introduction, until he remembered he was supposed to be pretending not to listen. He grinned embarrassedly.

"Might as well introduce myself now," he said, heading our way. "Frank Zhang. Son of Mars."

"Does that make you a Martian?" I asked, grinning at him.

"Percy, we're going to have to have a talk about the people we tick off and the people we avoid ticking off. Guess which group includes the kids of war gods?" said Annabeth.

I think it was rhetorical, but I had an answer for this one. "Based on your history with Reyna? I'm guessing the 'people we tick off' group."

She didn't have an argument for that. Ha! Score one for Percy. I had to be up to at least two by now.

Frank didn't seem offended by my question anyway, though. "No, just a son of Mars. It's an honor," he said flatly.

"Yeah, sounds like it." He reminded me of the way Piper had spoken of our godly parents. "You know Piper, by any chance? Daughter of Aphrodite?"

"Nope, sorry." Frank shook his head. "I got captured by our gracious host before I could even make it to camp. Met these guys here. You left someone out, though," he told Reyna.

"What? No, I didn't," she said with a frown.

"Yeah, you did. Hazel's here too."

"What? Hazel's here?" Annabeth's head shot up. Too quickly, apparently, because she whacked her forehead on the bunk above ours, and her eyes got this scary glassy look before she shook it off. Maybe I'd been wrong to assume she'd be all right. She'd seemed okay a second ago, but now she looked pale and unsteady even sitting down. I started to get concerned.

"She's not here right now," Reyna said, diverting my attention. "I just meant the people who were in the room. They took Hazel out a couple hours ago. When they dropped you off, we thought it was her coming back."

"Hazel?" I blinked. Why did that name sound so familiar to me? "I know that name..."

"She usually stays at Alpha," supplied Annabeth. "I'm guessing Nico mentioned her? She's his half-sister. Well, mostly. A daughter of Pluto. Nico brought her to camp about a month ago. Another few months and she'll bring the total of Romans who've seen age fourteen up to fourteen." She giggled. "That's sort of funny, isn't it?"

I studied her closely. It wasn't funny. And I couldn't help thinking she normally wouldn't have thought so either.

"Um, no offense, but is your girlfriend okay?" Frank asked me.

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Annabeth said indignantly. Her words were slurring now, and I glanced at Reyna, worried. I think she thought I was worried that Annabeth was denying our relationship, though, because Reyna grinned faintly back at me. I scowled. "I'm his friend who's a girl!"

"Okay, look, not that I'm complaining or anything-believe me, I like 'friends' way better than 'mortal enemies'-but just when did we become friends here, Annabeth?"

Her face scrunched up in confusion. "I don't know. Awhile ago. We are friends, aren't we, Percy?"

I groaned. Gods, she looked like somebody's lost puppy. What was I supposed to say to that? "Sure, except a few hours ago you'd just promoted me to 'maybe better off not dead,' so this is a little sudden"?

"Uh, yeah, Annabeth, of course I consider you a friend," I assured her, which was better than lying, right?

I turned to Frank and Reyna. "I don't suppose you guys have any nectar or ambrosia around?"

They shook their heads, but Annabeth spoke up. "I _tried_ to tell you earlier. I always keep some ambrosia with me, and Ethan the Pirate didn't take it."

"There was a pirate?" I was officially lost. Again. I so couldn't wait for this to stop happening every few hours.

In the meantime, Reyna filled me in. "Ethan Nakamura is the kid with the eye patch. He was a camper at Beta until recently. Annabeth used to call him 'Ethan the Pirate' to annoy me. I've had some bad experiences with pirates," she added darkly.

"Hey, Annabeth?" said Frank tentatively, breaking in. "You might want to eat some of that ambrosia."

She stared at him for a second, like she was trying to make sense of his words. Then she snapped out of it.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," she murmured. "I just called Percy my friend, didn't I?"

It's wrong that I kind of didn't want her to fix her head injury, right? She was a heck of a lot nicer with excessive blood loss or a concussion or whatever this was.

She pulled out a square of ambrosia from the back pocket of her jeans and started eating.

"Wait, he took my sugar cubes, but he left you with ambrosia? How is that fair?" I complained.

Reyna laughed. "Percy, it was in her back pocket. Do you really think one of Luke's minions was going to go poking around back there in front of him?"

"Okay, I'm only going to say this one last time: I've known about this stuff for _two days now_," I said deliberately. "Two days. Next person to act like I should know something super obvious gets run through with three feet of celestial bronze."

"Yeah, right," said Annabeth. "And just where are you going to get three feet of celestial bronze?"

"From _my_ pocket," I told her. I mean, talk about obvious, right?

...Which was when I realized I hadn't mentioned my own advantage to anyone yet. It'd kind of taken a backseat with Annabeth's "suicide by Kronos groupie" stunt.

"So, um, remember how I have a magic sword?" I told her sheepishly.

"Yes..." She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Um, well...it sort of, uh, reappears in my pocket if I lose it," I said.

"And would it, by any chance, have 'sort of' reappeared in your pocket, oh, a few minutes ago?" asked Annabeth dangerously. "And you didn't think to tell anyone?"

"I didn't have a chance!" I said defensively. "First they were marching us, and we couldn't talk, and then you were punching everyone, and _then_ your head was broken..."

I thought that would distract her, but Annabeth's gaze sharpened instead. I was so wishing for that concussion again. "You had it _back when they were marching us_?"

"Uh. Sort of?"

"I think maybe we should focus on how we have a weapon?" suggested Reyna. "And how any minute now, a guard will be unlocking the barracks to bring back Hazel?"

"You want to escape?" I asked.

Dumb question. How many people really look forward to imprisonment by an evil Titan?

"They never let us get close enough to the door to take the guards by force, though," Reyna said thoughtfully, ignoring the dumb question.

"Unless you, oh I don't know, _have a sword in your pocket when they're bringing you in_," said Annabeth pointedly.

"I was kind of busy making sure you didn't die!" I shot back.

"Hazel!" Frank blurted out, stopping Annabeth mid-retort. "We throw the sword to Hazel!"

Annabeth frowned, although I couldn't tell if she was thinking about Frank's suggestion or if she was upset she hadn't gotten to finish her insult.

"That could work," she said slowly. "We'll have to time it right..."

"And make sure Hazel knows what to do..." Reyna added.

"Without the guards catching on..."

"Or the rest of the camp figuring it out..."

Soon the two girls were sitting side-by-side, drawing up escape plans.

"Wait, what just happened here?" I asked Frank, bewildered.

"Let it go, man," he advised me. "They're girls. And you know what people say about girls."

"What?"

"Nothing brings them together like a prison break."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So, um, we'll start the groveling here, then? I'm so sorry this has taken so long; there really isn't a great excuse. Just a lot of random little things getting in the way, like life and laptop crashes. I'll continue to grovel, I'm sure, but for now, just know I'm sincerely sorry (but hey, it hasn't been abandoned, right? That's a step forward?).**

**Thanks (as usual!) to bibliophile114 for looking over this and giving it the go-ahead. You have no idea what a relief that always is, because by the time I've sent it to you, I'm usually pretty much convinced I should never be allowed a keyboard again. So thanks for always being so nice about it; you deserve plenty of credit for me finally breaking this hiatus!**

**Thanks even more to everyone who's been so supportive while this chapter was coming out. Specifically readingqueen811, LetTheWookieWin, summergirl881, and Tatters5, if you don't mind me naming you four (if you see this and do mind, please let me know ASAP and I'll fix it!). You all were definitely nicer than I deserved about taking the huge break! But I don't mean to leave anyone out, so thanks again to everyone out there reading and alerting; I appreciated the confidence boosts more than you'll know, and possibly a little too much if the reactions of everyone around me were any indication...**

**I hope it didn't disappoint!**


	10. Dance Like There's Nobody Watching

**Chapter 10: Dance Like There's Nobody Watching**

The guards didn't come back that night. Reyna pointed Annabeth and me toward two unclaimed bunks, but only I managed to get a couple hours of shuteye. Annabeth refused to leave her post at the barracks door in case the guards came to return Hazel, meaning Annabeth and Reyna could spring into action. They had a dozen battle strategies completely mapped out. Every contingency, every possible wrinkle...they had it all timed to the last millisecond. They were ready. They were _prepared_.

...For everything except the doors being thrown open early the next morning by an overly friendly Kronos minion, which in the girls' defense, seemed impossible even as it was happening.

"Hey, what're you guys doing hiding in here?" he slurred. "The party's out there!"

He waved vaguely behind him. Frank, who was stationed opposite Annabeth at the door, peeked warily outside.

"It looks like a party," he reported. "Everyone's dancing—well, I think you could call it dancing, anyway—and they definitely seem to be enjoying themselves."

We all moved to join him. This was something I didn't think any of us was going to believe without seeing it first.

The overly friendly guard stopped Annabeth as she passed him. "If I could rearrange the Greek alphabet, you know I'd put upsilon and iota together."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him, which I think he took as a good sign. Poor guy. He had no idea how wrong he was. Only three days, and already I could identify that look on Annabeth's face. That was not a, "you have just won me over with your clever and inventive pickup line" look. That was an, "I am going to lecture you like you've never been lectured before" look.

"First off," she began, starting to tick the points on her fingers, "that makes no sense, because in the modern alphabet, both upsilon and iota translate roughly to forms of the same letter, and secondly, that letter is 'i,' so—"

I sighed and stepped between them. "Maybe when the door to freedom isn't wide open, okay, Annabeth?" I placed the tip of my sword at the guy's throat. "Hands behind your back, buddy."

He frowned. "Dude, if she's your girlfriend, you could just say so. No need to bring swords into this."

"Don't take it personally," I said.

"Look, I'm just saying, you don't see me waving _my_ sword all over the place."

"And we're all very grateful for that," said Frank soothingly. "But, you know, maybe just to be sure, you could hand that sword of yours over?"

The guy looked down, like he'd forgotten he had a sword in the first place. "Had" being the operative word; Annabeth had relieved him of his weapon as soon as his attention was on me. But either he'd forgotten that, or he'd never noticed. He wasn't exactly the most observant guard in the rotation.

He frowned again. "Sorry, I don't have a sword, just the scabbard. If you need the sword too, you should probably ask your girlfriend. She has a sword."

We watched him patiently, waiting for him to connect the dots. It took a full minute.

"Hey! Your girlfriend stole my sword!"

Annabeth growled. "I am not his girlfriend!"

He brightened. "So then you're free tonight?"

Reyna smothered a laugh as Frank held Annabeth back. "She'll let you know later. For now, maybe you should sit down on one of these nice bunks and take a nap."

"Yeah, that sounds good," the guy mumbled. He smiled blearily. "I might be kinda tired."

He was out as soon as his head hit the bunk.

"I'll bet you're tired," Frank said, stooping to take the kid's pulse. He shook his head. "Is it just me, or is he acting a little...drunk?"

"They all are," said Annabeth, looking out the door. It was still wide open, and no one had shown any interest in making sure the prisoners weren't escaping. After our new best friend went down without a fight, we joined her and checked out the, well, party.

It was possibly the strangest party I'd ever seen, but that wasn't saying much. I'd been homeschooled, after all. Scattered on the ground were pieces of something that might once have been a cake, but they were quickly getting smushed into the ground as people danced through camp. I got a nice, up-close look at an empousai's legs when she and her demigod partner waltzed past us. Right in the middle of camp, another kid was up to his boxer shorts in an overflowing bathtub; he was serenading the showerhead as he sloshed from one end of the tub to the other.

Ethan the Pirate was living up to his nickname by setting up what looked like a pirate radio station, and that was when I realized what was so insanely weird about the scene: there was no music. Everyone was laughing and tripping and moving to some beat only they could hear.

Now, with all this random weirdness, you'd think you couldn't pick an absolute weirdest thing. But there was one that took the cake. Literally. Luke was running through camp, stopping only to grab cake whenever there was a piece intact.

"Is he enforcing some kind of super strict Kronos diet on them?" I asked.

"Apparently music is against the rules too," said Annabeth, pointing. Luke had taken up his sword and started slashing through the wires Ethan was connecting.

"No!" Luke was screaming. He abandoned the radio and started shaking the demigods and monsters around him. "What did I say about parties? I said NO PARTIES!"

"Relaxxx," hissed the waltzing empousai. "Loossssen up already."

"Yeah, chill," chimed in her partner. "It's just some birthday cake and a couple presents."

"It doesn't matter! That makes it a _PARTY_," Luke yelled, just in case he wasn't getting through to them.

He wasn't. They were clearly out of it.

"Where's Pollux?" Luke demanded, trying a different tack. "Is he with the other prisoners?"

I looked at Reyna, who shook her head. No Pollux with our group anyway. I quietly closed the doors to the barracks, making sure they weren't locked. If Luke happened to glance this way, at least it wouldn't be immediately obvious we could leave any time we wanted. I left a slit open, though, so I could see what was going on.

"He's in the Camp Alpha group," said Ethan. He was piecing together a new sound system, but Luke was too distracted to notice. "They're still in, ah, 'processing.'"

"I'll be with them," Luke snapped. "Don't touch anything while I'm gone! And for Olympus' sake, _stop the party_."

No one paid any attention. They paid even less attention when we snuck out of the barracks, easily blending in with the revelers around us.

Annabeth sighed dramatically. "All that planning for nothing. I hate when a good battle plan goes to waste."

I rolled my eyes. "Call me lazy, but I prefer this way. You know, the way that doesn't have the entire camp hunting us down?"

She muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Party pooper."

Annabeth and the others started running toward the edge of the camp, but I took a second to scan the area for Luke. No sign of him. Relieved, I tried to follow everyone else, but I found myself rooted to the spot. Again, unfortunately not a metaphor; there were real roots. It was some kind of vine. Were those...grapes?

"I don't take kindly to party poopers," said a voice behind me.

I whirled around, or tried to. The roots held fast, and I toppled forward. As much as I would've liked a few of my friends with me to face whoever this new enemy was, I couldn't help being grateful no one had seen that.

"Who're you?" I demanded. I tried to look imposing and fearless, but that's a lot harder than it sounds when your legs are wrapped in grape leaves.

A man appeared in front of me. He had dark black hair and a chubby face, which did him no favors with his bloodshot eyes and bright red nose. It was impossible to tell how old he was. Middle-aged? Young? He seemed like he could've been a teenager, except he had a Diet Coke in one hand. I couldn't name a single teenager I'd ever seen drinking Diet Coke.

"Surely my work speaks for itself," he said, narrowing his eyes at me. "I assume you're being rude, then? Typical demigod."

"No, I honestly—"

"No need to introduce yourself," he said, talking over me. "Perry Johannsen, is it? Our newest camp arrival? On the one hand, I feel I should thank you. I've been praying to my father for someone to destroy that place for years. It's finally looking promising. On the other hand, my son is currently a captive. So I'm conflicted, you see."

He continued to eye me disdainfully, and suddenly everything clicked.

"You're Mr. D, Pollux and Castor's—uh, Pollux's father!" I blurted out, barely saving myself. "The camp director!"

"I see your father still isn't siring any rocket scientists," Mr. D said blandly. I scowled. Who was it who couldn't even get my name right a minute ago? "So, how do you feel about dolphins?"

"I've spent the last couple days as Flipper," I informed him, just in case he hadn't been using his god powers to spy on our band of demigods.

"Excellent. Then you'll have practice for the rest of eternity."

"Wait!" I yelped, frantically trying to cut the vines with my sword. No luck. Note to self: invest in weapon capable of slashing immortal plants. "I don't want to be an _actual _dolphin!"

He frowned. "It has to be an actual dolphin. I don't go in for half measures. Well, not if you don't count those mutants Chrysaor found, but frankly, if they'd just stayed _still_ for half a second instead of trying to escape like bad little kidnappers—"

"No, I don't want to be turned into a dolphin at all!"

His frown deepened. "Then what _do_ you want to be turned into? Dolphins are the only sea creatures I can do, you know. As a son of Poseidon, I thought you would appreciate the consideration. I am being extremely reasonable."

If that was his definition of "reasonable," I didn't think the gods and I were working from the same dictionary. "I'd really rather not be turned into anything, thanks. I'd rather be let go so I can help my friends."

Mr. D eyed me critically. "Your particular brand of help already got my son captured once. I think I'll err on the side of caution for the moment. I don't see any evil cruise ships docked in this forest, but I'm sure if anyone can find one, it will be you."

I felt my face heat up. "That was a total accident! I had no idea that ship was bad news! Maybe that's something a camp director should've included in the welcome packet?"

He squinted at me. "You are aware, aren't you, that this 'camp director' is actually an immortal being with the power to turn you mad with a single thought? Or blast you into grape leaves?"

I wondered if that really qualified as a threat. Wasn't he sort of planning to do that anyway? Or were grape leaves somehow way worse than dolphins? I'd have to remember to ask Thalia how bad plant transformation was on a scale of one to _I'm-going-to-skewer-you-with-lightning-for-even-asking-me._

"But you haven't blasted me yet," I pointed out. "I might not have a ton of experience with the gods, but I'm guessing that means you want something."

Mr. D glared at me. "I don't _want_ anything. I might _demand_ something."

"Something I need to be human for?"

"It might help," he admitted. "Though I haven't seen much evidence it's worked exceedingly well for you thus far."

I scowled again. "You know, for someone who needs my help—"

"For the last time, I do not _need your help_," Mr. D thundered. "I am offering you a chance for redemption. You should be _thanking_ me."

I decided I'd hold off on that until I heard exactly what I had to do for redemption.

"You're lucky I'm so patient and understanding," Mr. D huffed. _Right_, I thought. _In other words, you _really_ need my help_. "You got my son captured. That was a poor decision on your part. I'm giving you the chance to reverse it."

"You want me to un-capture your son?" I repeated. "Aren't you doing a pretty good job of it yourself? The entire camp is wasted. He and the other prisoners should be escaping right about now."

"My son is hardly in a position to help himself at the moment, and technically I'm not allowed to interfere. And unfortunately, while I have the ability to put everyone else under the influence, your friend Luke is under the influence of one of the most powerful beings who's ever lived, which makes him impervious to being under _my_ influence."

"Uh, right," I agreed, trying to wrap my head around that. "You mean you can't make him drunk?"

"No, I 'can't make him drunk,'" repeated Mr. D nastily. "Such a way with words. You will get my son free from Luke's influence. You will see him safely away from here. And then you will make sure he never gets captured again!"

"I will?" I asked, gulping. "I mean, sure, I will, but...how am I supposed to do that?"

"That is none of my concern," Mr. D snapped. "You should be grateful—"

"—You're giving me this chance at all," I finished. "Yeah, I heard."

His face started to turn purple, so I hurriedly continued, "I'll help your son. But it might be good if we knew where he was. I'm guessing you could help us with that?"

Mr. D grunted. "I'm a _god_. You think I can't keep tabs on my own son?"

"Um, is this a trick question?" I asked, thinking that not keeping tabs on their children sort of defined a lot of the gods.

I expected to get yelled at for impertinence or whatever again, but Mr. D just waved his hand toward an unassuming hut on the edge of the camp. "He should be there. A few of the other demigods are there as well." He cleared his throat. "I suspect their parents would also...appreciate...if you could assist them."

"Relax, I wasn't going to leave anyone behind or anything," I assured him. "That's not really how I do things. I've never left another demigod behind in my life! Of course, I didn't know there _were_ other demigods to leave behind until a couple days ago, but..."

"Percy! Percy, where are you?" I heard Annabeth call, and I saw her making her way back toward me.

"Remember, never captured again!" Mr. D warned me as he abruptly disappeared. I hastily shielded my eyes.

Luckily when Mr. D disappeared, so did the grape vines around my legs. I took a few experimental steps forward, just to be sure, and nearly ran into Annabeth.

"Where have you been?" she demanded. "You can't possibly have gotten lost, can you?"

"Between the barracks and here?" I asked. "Seriously? My on-land GPS isn't _that_ bad. I was busy meeting our camp director."

"You met Mr. D?" Annabeth frowned, and I watched as she put the pieces together. "He's the one doing this! His son must have been captured, and he's probably being held with the other Camp Alpha arrivals. But where could they be?"

I pointed at the hut Mr. D had indicated. "They're in there," I said smugly.

"How could you possibly know that?"

"You never give me any credit!"

"Oh, right, Mr. D would have told you."

"You don't know that!"

Annabeth just stared at me disbelievingly. "Sure, I don't. I assume we're supposed to rescue Pollux?"

"Yeah, and then we have to make sure he's never captured again, or I end up a dolphin. Or worse," I told her.

"I don't know. You'd probably make a cute dolphin," she mused.

My face felt hot. "Oh yeah? You think so?"

"Well, sure. Have you ever seen an ugly dolphin?" She grinned. "Even you'd look okay. Now, come on. I don't know how long this spell of Mr. D's will last."

"Where are Reyna and the others?" I asked, looking around. "We could use their help."

Annabeth's expression darkened. "Good luck with that. I suggested helping the Alpha campers as we were leaving, and Reyna told me it was 'too dangerous.' She didn't want to waste the time to look for them when we could be escaping. I was going to ask what you thought, and then I noticed you weren't with us anymore."

"You were actually going to ask my opinion?" I said, slightly amazed.

"Of course. When it comes to running off and doing potentially insane things without the support of the rest of the group, I'm willing to accept you're the expert."

I thought she was smiling, but she'd turned around to lead the charge back into camp, so I couldn't be sure. "So Reyna and the others are heading into the forest? Do you think they'll find Thalia and Nico and everybody?"

Annabeth shrugged. "I have no idea. I don't know if they're even looking for Thalia's group. Reyna usually prefers to do things on her own. Especially if Thalia's involved."

"Why?" I asked, falling into step beside her as we dodged partiers. We even walked right up to Ethan; he didn't seem to notice us—or notice when Annabeth swiped her knife and baseball cap out from under his nose. "I thought Reyna and Jason got along pretty well?"

"They do," Annabeth confirmed. "But I think that's part of the problem. Thalia is, like, this super demigod. She's the daughter of Zeus. Her brother is the son of Jupiter. They're the most special siblings in existence, and Jason totally worships his sister. Not to mention Reyna hates Luke and me, and we were pretty close to Thalia too. So there's a little rivalry going on. Reyna leads Camp Beta, and Thalia all but rules Camp Alpha. Even when she's away being a Hunter. Everyone knows it was Thalia's sacrifice that created the camps. It doesn't matter what she does; she'll always be a hero to the rest of us."

"And Reyna resents her for it," I surmised.

"Who knows? Reyna's Roman. They resent a lot of things just on principle."

We were getting close to the hut, so I didn't have time to ask her what she had against Romans. I resolved to mention it later. It didn't seem very rational to hate a whole group like that, and Annabeth was nothing if not rational. Usually.

"Okay, how do we want to play this?" I asked, appealing to her strategy side. "Bust it open and let everyone out?"

"They haven't tried to escape," Annabeth said thoughtfully. "There's a lock, but that should have been laughable for anyone with basic magic. Or destructive tendencies, and while Travis and Connor _are_ with us..."

She eyed the lock, while I kept a lookout behind us. No one had tried to stop us so far, but Luke had to be monitoring Pollux somehow. He'd said he was going to join them, hadn't he? Was he inside the hut? I was just hoping when someone _did_ show up to stop us, his eyes weren't gold.

"Slash the lock with your sword," Annabeth said finally. "See what happens."

My eyes widened. "Not if that's the best you can come up with. 'See what happens?' That's really not reassuring!"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "You have a better plan?"

"_You_ slashing the lock, for one," I muttered, but I stepped up anyway. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and slammed Riptide down on the lock.

When I dared to open my eyes again, I was still in one piece. The lock wasn't so lucky. It'd fallen away easily, laying broken on the ground.

"Hmm," said Annabeth. She bent down to examine the lock. "That's not good."

"How is it not good? I thought this is what we were going for," I said.

"I didn't expect it to work," she confessed. "I thought the sword would bounce off it, or you'd at least be smited or something."

"I can see how this is disappointing, then," I said sarcastically. She didn't seem to hear me.

"But since you weren't, and no one's rushing for the door..." Annabeth hesitated, then slowly pushed the door open. She groaned. "I was afraid of this."

"What?" I asked, shoving my way inside. When I saw it, I groaned too. The hut was empty.

"But Mr. D said they were supposed to be here!" I protested. "And yes, I know I just admitted I didn't think of it. Stop looking so smug all the time."

"They were here," Annabeth said, pointing to the dirt floor. "You can see the tracks, so unless there was someone else Luke wanted to lock up, it had to be the Alpha campers. They were lying on the ground at some point...it looks like maybe only four of them or so? Luke did say Camp Alpha still stood; he must have captured Pollux and the other campers while they were sneaking out? I don't see centaur hoofprints, either, so it doesn't look like they captured Chiron."

Annabeth stepped into the hut to look around some more, while I stood guard outside. "You said they were lying down?"

"I think so. Why?"

"I was just thinking, Luke put us in the barracks, where there were beds. And Beta campers. Why would he keep anyone from Alpha in a separate location? It means more prisoners to watch."

Annabeth glanced up. "You're right."

"And again, you sound shocked," I grumbled.

"No, it's just that I didn't think of that. Why make them sleep in this rundown hut instead of putting them in the barracks?" Annabeth gasped. "I'll bet you anything Lou Ellen is with them!"

"Of course! That makes perfect sense!" I said.

"They'd need to sedate her; her power isn't derived from anything they could conceivably take or hide from her. Luke must have had one of her siblings put her under some sort of sleeping spell!"

"It's all so clear now," I agreed.

"Maybe the others got caught up in it somehow, or maybe Luke wanted to be sure they couldn't wake her up at all. But he needed the Beta campers awake so they could build the camp; he couldn't put everyone to sleep. It must have just been anyone captured with Lou Ellen, since no one else would know she was here. Hazel is technically Camp Alpha, after all, and she was placed with the Beta campers. But she was off on her own when we left with you. She wouldn't have been escaping with anyone from Alpha when Luke caught up to her."

I nodded. "Okay, I give. How long are you going to make me pretend I have any idea what you're talking about?"

At last, Annabeth stopped, although whether it was because I'd said something or because she'd run out of theory, I didn't know. "Oh, sorry. Lou Ellen is a daughter of Hecate. I think she's the only Hecate child on our side of the war; most of the others followed their mother to Kronos' side. Lou Ellen was just staying at Alpha temporarily, since usually the kids of the more minor gods don't feel as welcome at camp, but Chiron must have decided he needed to evacuate her. Turning traitor to your mother and brothers and sisters must make you a prime target."

Annabeth slipped into a corner of the shack, squinting at something on the wall, and I let her work. I fidgeted for a minute or so until I couldn't take it anymore.

"So where could they be now?" I asked.

"I think you're never going to find out," said a voice behind me, and I cursed. I'd been too focused on Annabeth. I'd forgotten to watch behind us, and the sounds of the partying had masked his approach.

I turned, barely bringing Riptide up in time to meet the nasty-looking sword Luke had aimed at my face. This was definitely not the sword he'd been using in the forest earlier. This one was double-edged, and it gleamed both bronze and gray. I hadn't seen a sword like this before. It looked almost like someone had mixed steel in with the usual Celestial Bronze. They'd also made it a good foot longer than Riptide, which was already pretty long by anyone's standards. Because Luke wasn't dangerous enough with his extra Kronos powers.

"Where are Pollux and the others?" I asked, gritting my teeth as I pushed him back. I didn't see Annabeth anymore, which I assumed meant she'd put on her cap. She couldn't escape as long as Luke and I were blocking the door, though.

Luke didn't fall back as much as I'd hoped. He planted his feet and took another mighty swing at me. I blocked it, trying to move to the side.

"What, not feeling talkative all of a sudden?" I asked. I gained a little ground, maneuvering us to the left of the door.

"You'll never get to them," Luke said coldly. I was a little relieved to see his eyes were blue; at least I was fighting a mortal. I slashed back at him, going on the offensive.

"You know I will," I said confidently, jabbing at him with each word.

He growled. He batted away my advances like they were irritating mosquitoes. "Really? You think you can make it past me? You'd have to make it to the other side of camp, and we both know that isn't happening."

I felt something squeeze my arm, just enough to be felt but not enough to hamper my fighting. Annabeth had heard. I nodded almost imperceptibly, hoping she got the message: _Go find them. I can hold him off for a little while._

Annabeth may have helped me beat him before, but now Luke had no backup. And if he had no backup, that also meant no one was guarding anyone from Alpha. If Annabeth could find them before Mr. D's spell wore off...

"So where's Annabeth?" asked Luke, as if he were reading my mind. "From what I could gather from my idiot army, she was leaving camp with Reyna and the others. Abandoning you, from the looks of it."

"I had unfinished business," I said, which was mostly the truth. "You probably should have been more strict about the cake."

My arm shot out, and Riptide came within an inch of Luke's leg. He twisted away, aiming for the back of my knee. I moved out of range.

"I knew the Alpha campers were more trouble than they were worth," Luke bit out. "I was hoping to learn about any new Alpha defenses, but that blasted Lou Ellen managed to turn our own spell against us. She put the entire group to sleep, and we've just been lugging them around, afraid to break the spell in case she wakes up for even a second. Have you ever seen a daughter of Hecate in action?"

"Nope." I wondered why he was telling me all this. It seemed a lot like giving away information unnecessarily.

"It's something to witness." Luke tried to land a blow to my shoulder. I danced out of range again, bringing Riptide up to deflect his blow and throw off his balance. "You really are an excellent swordfighter, you know."

"Uh, thanks?" His attempt to throw _me_ off-balance was a lot more successful than mine had been. "You too?"

"Thanks." Another slash at my left side. I sidestepped easily.

This battle felt very...slow, I realized. Not like when Kronos had slowed down time; Luke's eyes were still definitely blue. But almost lazy, like Luke wasn't really trying. He took jabs at me, I took jabs at him, but neither of us was really getting too far in defeating the other. It made sense on my end; I wasn't trying to end this quickly. But why wasn't he?

"You're stalling," I said suddenly. "You're stalling too."

"Too?" Luke repeated. "Why would _you _be stalling?"

I fought to stay calm, redoubling my efforts and slashing at Luke furiously. "I'm not, anymore."

He was just trying to last until the spell wore off all his little followers. Why hadn't I seen that earlier? I was trying to give Annabeth as much time as possible to find and rouse the other campers, but Luke didn't even seem concerned. He wasn't trying to beat me. He was making sure I was still around when everyone regained their senses and could gang up on me.

Luke maintained a defensive strategy, fending off every strike I threw his way. Every time our swords made contact, a clang like a bell rang through the camp, and those clangs were acting as an alarm clock for the partying Kronos loyalists. Each parry had them blinking and rubbing their eyes.

I clenched my teeth. I couldn't drag this out any longer.

Summoning my strength, I let my left hand drift back toward the overfull tub behind me. I didn't waste any time. I pulled the water to me, knocking the showerhead serenader off his feet.

Luke hadn't been prepared for a water attack. It was obvious he'd deliberately avoided putting camp anywhere near a water source; he hadn't thought anyone would be stupid enough to give me access to a huge amount of water. Luckily for me, his army really was kind of dumb.

"No!" Luke thundered as I slammed the water into his side. He tried to regain his footing, but it was too late. As long as his eyes stayed blue, he didn't stand a chance against me.

I had to make sure he didn't have an opportunity to call on Kronos' power, but I also had to make sure he couldn't call out to his friends. Even if they still thought life was one huge party, they could make things difficult for me.

I used some of the water to gag Luke and the rest to separate him from his sword. I wasn't sure where to go from there; as soon as I left, he'd have control again. I couldn't maintain this from a distance.

I looked around frantically for any sign of Annabeth, but there was none. I wondered how long I could stall. I kept the ground muddy, making sure Luke couldn't get any sort of traction. In doing so, though, I felt an idea spark somewhere in the back of my brain.

I carefully moved behind Luke, putting my sword to his throat. Hopefully that would deter anyone who'd come to their senses for awhile. I dragged the water back with me, making it pull Luke along too.

I made for the hut. I wasn't sure if this was going to work, exactly, but I didn't have much to lose. If Luke could call on Kronos before I could get out of here...

I jerked open the hut's door, closing it after Luke and I were inside. I called on the water again, driving most of it into the ground. It made a decent mud pit, still watery enough that I could push Luke in easily.

Then, making sure Luke was still gagged, I drew as much of the excess water from the ground as I could, leaving Luke up to his stomach in hardening mud. I frowned, not sure what else to do. Could I gag him with something else, so he couldn't call out as I escaped? What was stopping him from using his freaky Kronos powers? Should I actually try to...you know...get rid of him?

My debate unexpectedly ended as a loud _thwack!_ resounded off the walls, and Luke's eyes rolled back into his head.

Annabeth appeared behind him, holding a metal shield. "Nice call on the mud, Seaweed Brain."

I tried not to sound as relieved as I felt. "Nice call on the shield. It sort of made my mud move pointless." I gestured to Luke's unconscious body, slumped forward. "What do we do with him? Do we take him with us? Or...something else?"

If Annabeth knew what I'd meant by "something else," she didn't show it. I didn't want to press her on it, either. So far everything Luke had done had been to kill or capture me, but I couldn't bring myself to just cut him down while he was totally defenseless. Not when I knew we could beat him again, if we had to.

"Do you think we can carry him?" asked Annabeth. "I sent Pollux to lead everyone back to where I thought Thalia was waiting, but that means we won't have any help."

For the second time in as many minutes, someone else made the decision for me. There was a loud pounding on the door.

"Uh, is anybody in here?" the pounder called.

It sounded like Ethan. Annabeth and I decided not to stick around to check.

I summoned the bathtub water again and used it to blast a hole in the hut's back wall. Annabeth looked mildly impressed despite herself; I was smiling as we ran out into the forest.

"Wait, I'm coming with you," announced someone waiting for us near the tree line.

Annabeth and I had our weapons drawn before he'd even made it out of the shadows.

At first I thought it was Luke, but it didn't quite fit. This guy was blond-haired and blue-eyed, but he was closer to our age and skinny. The look in his eyes did remind me a little of Luke, though, and he was carrying a teddy bear with stuffing trailing out of it. Odd, but not necessarily menacing.

"Octavian," said Annabeth distastefully. "I didn't see that coming."

"Funny," he replied, staring at the bear. "I did."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: It's been far too long since I posted, and I can only apologize over and over. I don't have any great excuses for you; for awhile I had zero time for writing, and then when I eventually made some time, it was because I wanted to try writing an original novel. Turns out those things take some time. Who knew?**

**But seriously, I'm sorry for the long hiatus. The good news is, that hiatus is officially over; I'll be posting a chapter a week until it's finished. So if there's anyone reading this that stuck around through the (*cringe*) almost two years I've been off doing my own thing, your patience is hopefully about to be rewarded. Please know I'm eternally grateful for all the support I received, while I was updating and not. You've all been so understanding, even when it wasn't deserved!**

**Also, I should definitely say that in the interest of time, this chapter wasn't beta read. I've done my own editing, so any mistakes or issues are entirely my own. A million thanks yet again to bibliophile114 who did all my previous beta reading; the decision to forgo your help to finally meet my goals for finishing this up was one of the most nerve-wracking posting decisions I've ever made!**

**Once again, I'm so sorry for the long wait. I hope it was worth it, in some small way!**


	11. Blackjack Rules

**Chapter 11: Blackjack Rules**

"I'm coming with you," the guy repeated. Annabeth started to argue, but I shushed her.

"Question him later! We've gotta get out of here!" I hissed.

I expected more arguing, but both of them nodded reluctantly and followed me into the woods, away from the rebuilt Camp Beta. I wasn't sorry to leave it behind.

When we'd made it about a mile or so away, Annabeth decided she'd had enough and turned on our newest companion.

"Octavian, why aren't you with Reyna and the others?" she demanded. She clearly knew the guy, so I was guessing this was the Octavian that Reyna had listed when we'd first met her. But despite that, Annabeth still hadn't sheathed her knife, so I followed her lead.

"Reyna is leading everyone away from your group," Octavian said, "and I need to consult with your Oracle. It may provide invaluable information. Do you have a way to contact your camp?"

"You don't need to contact camp. Rachel's with us," I said without thinking. Annabeth pursed her lips, and I suspected I'd just made a mistake.

"Rachel?" Octavian raised one eyebrow. "You named your mummy?"

"Rachel isn't my mom," I said, even more confused. "I mean, talk about gross. She's, like, my age. And I thought guys were off-limits, so how could she have a kid already anyway?"

Annabeth facepalmed. Octavian looked lost.

"What is he talking about?" he demanded of Annabeth.

She sighed. "You remember, the mission to rescue the art girl from the mortal high school?" He nodded. "That's who we're talking about."

"What? Am I supposed to know this girl? That was well after my last trip to Alpha," he said, annoyed.

I expected Annabeth to get annoyed too, but instead, her face lit up suddenly. "Gods of Olympus, that's right! You haven't met Rachel yet! Oh, this is going to be good."

Octavian scowled. "What does this Rachel girl have to do with the Oracle?"

"You guys are totally losing me here," I told them. "Can't we just take him to meet the Oracle if he's so hung up on it?"

"I've met the Oracle," Octavian insisted. "Two years ago, remember?"

"You met the _old_ Oracle," corrected Annabeth. "We've upgraded since then."

Octavian looked puzzled for a second, but then his face lit up just like Annabeth's had. "Humanity is able to host the Spirit again?" he asked excitedly.

"We broke the curse earlier this year," said Annabeth. "Nico had a vision of the death of his mother."

"Nico? Nico di Angelo solved the secret of the Oracle's demise? The son of Hades?"

I took out Riptide and began idly twirling it between my fingers (in pen form, of course). I figured this was going to be one of those conversations where I had no idea what was going on, and everyone was just going to ignore me until they remembered I was still there. I started scouting around the trees.

"Yes, Nico's vision made him realize the Oracle's demise was actually the direct result of a curse from Hades," I heard Annabeth say. "That Oracle was the one who'd spoken the Great Prophecy, you know, and Hades blamed her for the death of Maria di Angelo. Even though that was really Zeus' fault, but as you're aware Hades took his revenge for _that_ out on Thalia—"

"Of course, of course," said Octavian impatiently. "A curse, you said?"

I uncapped Riptide and started poking around in some bushes. _What's that you're doing, Percy? Oh, nothing, just stabbing some innocent plants until we're ready to include me in a conversation again._

"Yes," said Annabeth, oblivious to my mental rambling, "a curse by Hades. He swore that as long as his children were treated as outcasts, the Spirit of the Oracle could never be passed on."

"And now?"

"Well, obviously _we've_ accepted Nico pretty fully, haven't we? And Percy turned sixteen."

My ears perked up at the mention of my name. "What did I have to do with anything?"

"Zeus was only concerned about Nico and his sister because of the prophecy," Annabeth explained. "You fulfilled the prophecy by turning sixteen. Of course, we actually broke the curse before you officially turned sixteen, but part of Nico's argument was that you were practically guaranteed to make it to sixteen. Your dad watches you like a seahawk."

"_Nico's_ argument?" interrupted Octavian. "Nico convinced his father to break the curse? Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades?"

I was starting to get irritated that he kept repeating that. Were there really that many "Nico"s running around?

"I don't think it was Hades' call, really," said Annabeth thoughtfully, "but Nico did have a really inspirational speech about forgiveness and grudges and moving on. He'd been trying to raise his sister from the dead, and he literally gave up the ghost to prove he wasn't going to dwell on the past at the expense of the future. You see, Rachel was determined to try to take the Spirit despite our advice, so Nico knew he had to do whatever he could to help. Especially after the Labyrinth—"

"A maze convinced Nico to help Rachel?" I asked, totally confused. Again. As expected. "Are we sure I didn't just hit my head a few days ago and land in a coma?"

"You know, this really would have been much easier if you'd been with us from the beginning," Annabeth informed me. "Or at least the last four years or so."

"Well, I wasn't. I was busy making the world a better place."

"Right, 'better.' We monitor the records of unexplained property damage in Manhattan, you know."

"As long as it's still unexplained, you can't prove it was me."

"A full eighty-three percent of those records specifically reference unexplained _water_ damage—"

"I think we're losing track of the real issue here," I said hastily. "So there was a maze?"

"A _labyrinth_," corrected Annabeth. "Daedalus' Labyrinth, to be exact. It's underground, and it runs under the entire country and then some. Nico found an entrance at camp under a rock formation we call Zeus' Fist. He was going to use it to run away after his sister's death, but instead I invited him to join me on a quest to explore the Labyrinth, since the underground is sort of his domain, and Hazel hadn't been, um, 'recovered' by then. Nico agreed to come in the name of his sister."

"Ah, because Bianca had died trying to save you," said Octavian, nodding. "If you'd then died in the Labyrinth, her death would have been in vain. I _told_ you that quest was a bad idea—"

"Yeah, your insight was invaluable," said Annabeth sarcastically. Her voice went up a couple octaves. "'The stuffed koala bear seems to indicate there might be a slight chance of a possible problem with your proposed quest.' So helpful."

"I sounded nothing like that!" Octavian huffed. "And what I _said_ was—"

I cut him off this time. "So Annabeth, Nico felt indebted to protect you."

"Well, he said that, but I think he made it up," she confessed. "As soon as we went down the ladder, he tried to break off to resurrect his sister. Luckily Rachel saw it coming and stopped him."

"Okay, back up. Rachel's there too now?" I asked, trying to keep it straight.

"Well, of course. I reasoned that a mortal with clear sight might be able to navigate through the maze where conventional methods would fail, and Rachel naturally volunteered."

"And you accepted her help? Just like that?"

Annabeth gave me a weird look. "Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I accept all the help I could get? _Boys_."

I bit my cheek to stop myself from answering that. "And this Labyrinth thing was important?"

"_Is_ important, Seaweed Brain. But dangerous and unpredictable, so we've declared it off-limits. I only went down in the first place to find Daedalus, because we were afraid Luke might use the Camp Alpha entrance as an invasion point."

"So you found Daedalus."

"No, don't be silly. I found Luke."

"Oh my gods," I muttered. "So you and Rachel and Nico and Luke are all living it up in an underground maze, and somehow this leads to Rachel telling the future."

"Luke had Ariadne's String," said Annabeth, like this explained everything.

I threw up my hands and let Octavian take over the conversation. I went back to poking at bushes with my sword.

"Right, and you destroyed the String and removed the threat," Octavian said impatiently. "I know all this. But how did this Rachel become the Oracle?"

"Well, to make a long story short," said Annabeth (_too late_, I thought), "Rachel and Nico bonded, and Nico was afraid of losing yet another person he'd begun to consider a sister. He had the vision and realized what he had to do. He proclaimed that he was forgiving the gods for the death of his sister and taking a permanent place at camp, and that was enough to break the curse. Nico had a home, and Hades agreed to work with Zeus to defeat Kronos. Rachel was able to accept the Spirit of the Oracle. I swear I covered this in one of our monthly Camp information exchanges."

"I don't believe so," said Octavian archly.

"Oh, um, maybe we wanted to make sure it would hold," said Annabeth, sounding faintly guilty.

"I'm sure."

"Hey, guys?" I called, staring at the ground I'd uncovered with my poking. "You might want to come see this."

They walked over, joining me at my bush.

"Is it just me, or are those pegasus hoofprints?" I asked.

Annabeth knelt to examine them. "They do look like pegasus prints," she acknowledged. "The marks skip every couple repetitions. That happens whenever a pegasus' wings lift him off the ground slightly while walking."

"Like a pegasus was trying to get away," I said grimly.

"It's possible." Annabeth turned to me. "You think this is from the pegasus Luke was using to track us?"

"Looks like it. We have to follow these tracks," I said, determined.

"What? No!" Octavian chose that moment to jump in. "We have to get to camp! We must consult the Oracle! We don't have time for this!"

That seemed to make Annabeth's decision for her. "You're right, Percy. We have to follow these tracks."

Octavian began to object again, but Annabeth calmly and very deliberately cleaned her knife off on her jeans, and his objections died quickly.

"I'm staying here," was all he said.

Neither Annabeth nor I were able to muster even a half-hearted _no, really, we want you with us_ protest, so we left him behind and moved cautiously along the tracks.

The prints were clear at first, even with the skipping, but as we got into heavier brush and thicker trees, they became harder and harder to see. We lost the trail twice when it was covered by fallen October leaves, and both times we had to hunt to pick it up again. Finally, I heard something up ahead.

I pulled Annabeth up short, putting a finger to my mouth. She nodded, then tugged on her invisibility cap. I knew she was still with me, but it was kind of eerie all the same.

I crept closer to the sound, approaching with Riptide firmly in front of me. The sound became muttering as I got closer, and as I neared a clearing, it finally began resolving into words. Really filthy words, for the most part. Someone didn't have a whole lot of love for Luke, and for once, it wasn't me.

_That no-good, dirty, rotten..._

I peeked into the clearing warily, expecting to find a legion of Kronos minions. Instead, all I saw was a pure black pegasus, one of the most beautiful I'd ever seen. She was tethered to a tree with multiple ropes, and her wings were pinned to her side. It was heartbreaking. Beside me, I heard Annabeth gasp.

I ran into the clearing, heedless of any hidden Kronos employees.

"Percy!" Annabeth hissed, but I didn't stop. I heard an exasperated sigh, and then a pair of footsteps started running behind me.

_Great, another demigod with a sword. Don't you ever get tired of waving those things around innocent pegasi?_

"I'm a son of Poseidon! I'm here to help!" I said to her, proving it by slashing through the ropes. Annabeth whipped off her cap and set to work on unpinning the pegasus' wings. "We're the good guys, Miss...?"

_Miss?!_ said the pegasus, outraged. _I'm no miss!_

"Oh," I said, embarrassed. "Sorry. I just thought you were, for some reason..."

Annabeth groaned. "_Definitely_ not a girl, Seaweed Brain."

"Well, how was I supposed to know that?" I grumbled. I turned back to the pegasus. "Um, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean anything by it."

_Yeah, well,_ the pegasus grumbled back. _You untied me, so I guess we can call it even. Name's Blackjack, boss. _Mister _Blackjack. What's yours?_

"Uh, you can call me Percy," I told him.

_Good to know, boss._

"No 'boss.' No 'Lord.' Just Percy."

_Are you sure? I like "boss."_

"Really. Percy's great."

_Nah, I think I'm gonna go with "boss."_

I sighed. "We'll discuss it later. Right now we have to get you out of here before someone thinks to check on you."

_Yeah, I had a couple guards for awhile. Then some kid showed up with cake, and they disappeared._

"Let's hope that cake is still causing problems. Annabeth, you ready?"

She nodded. "Ask him how his wings feel."

I repeated the question, and in answer, Blackjack shook them out. As majestic as he'd looked tied to a tree, he looked ten times more majestic now. And a million times more powerful.

_Feels like everything's in the right place. Tell your friend thanks. Your friend who happens to be a girl, I noticed, because I notice things like gender._

"I said I was sorry!"

_...So you two together?_

"No! Why are pegasi such gossips?" I griped. "Blackjack says thanks, Annabeth."

"My pleasure." Annabeth hopped nimbly to the ground, sheathing her knife as she went. "You might want to tell him to get out of here while he still can."

"Yeah, you're free to go now," I said to Blackjack. "You should probably, you know, go."

We started walking away, but Blackjack followed us.

"Uh, I meant what I said. You're free to go." I made a shooing motion with my hands. "You aren't injured or anything, are you?"

_Nope._

"Okay, then."

We started walking again. Blackjack kept following us.

"Did he want to come with us?" asked Annabeth. "He knows we aren't going to force him to serve us like Luke did, right?"

I repeated the question to Blackjack. "You know you're honestly free to go, right? We aren't going to make you stick around."

_Look, you save me, I help you. Quid pro quo. You ever need anything ever again, I'm there for you. I'm guessing it's a long walk back to wherever you came from, am I right?_

"If you're asking if we could use a ride..."

_Hop on, already. Before the angry one with the eye patch shows up again._

I climbed gingerly up his back, careful not to hit any place the ropes had rubbed raw. It made me angry at Luke all over again.

I extended a hand to Annabeth, and she climbed up behind me, even more gingerly than I had. It dawned on me that she'd only heard one side of my conversation with Blackjack, but when he didn't buck her off as soon as she sat down, she relaxed slightly. Then Blackjack whinnied, and her arms flew around my waist.

I grinned to myself, and Blackjack took off.

* * *

><p>With Blackjack's help, it only took us a couple minutes to make it back to Octavian. When we found him, though, he wasn't alone.<p>

"Frank," I said, genuinely pleased to see the big guy. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged awkwardly. "I want to help."

"Me too," said a pretty girl with dark skin. She took off a helmet and shook out her curly golden-brown hair. She looked a few years younger than I was, but it was hard to tell. She had an older quality about her, somehow. "I told Reyna, Roman or not Roman, my place was with Camp Alpha and my brother."

"You're Hazel," I said in recognition. "Nico's sister."

She smiled. "Not how most people know me, but I've been called worse. You must be Percy. Frank filled me in. We want to come with you."

Frank nodded hesitantly, like he wasn't sure at all that was what he wanted. From the way he shifted closer to Hazel, I got the feeling this wasn't so much a "we" thing as a "Hazel" thing. Hazel didn't seem to notice, though.

"The more the merrier," I said cheerfully. "Right, Octavian?"

He didn't seem as pleased. "You already have twelve demigods in your group," he said disapprovingly. "It's a wonder you haven't attracted every monster in the country."

"All the more reason to have a couple extra fighters on hand," said Hazel brightly. "Plus, I can travel over land while you take the sky."

"Pegasi travel a lot faster than you can run," I warned.

Her gold eyes twinkled. "That's why I have a secret weapon."

"Arion," said Octavian distastefully. "That Amazon horse."

Hazel glared at him. "He's not an Amazon horse; he's a horse that was captured by the Amazons. There's a difference. Besides, you're just mad that Reyna didn't ask _you_ to come with her to visit her sister when we got that report about the telekhines a few months ago. Underground forges with precious metals are a little more my domain than yours, Octavian."

Octavian sniffed haughtily, but he didn't argue the point.

Hazel whistled, and a magnificent brown horse came galloping into sight. From, like, _really_ far away.

"How fast is he going?" I asked, but I didn't even have time to finish the question before the horse had arrived.

"Everyone, meet Arion. Arion, everyone. I think maybe he can keep up with a pegasus," said Hazel smugly.

Actually, Arion and Blackjack were having a conversation pretty much to that exact effect, but I didn't tell her that. Especially since "conversation" was being generous, and it definitely wasn't rated PG-13. Repeating it didn't seem like a great idea.

"All right, we should get going," I said decisively. "Hazel, do you think Arion can take you and Frank?"

Hazel patted Arion's neck. "Of course you can, right, Arion?"

Arion whinnied. _He's a Chinese-Canadian baby man._

"He says he'd love to," I said. "How about Octavian?"

_I'd rather take five Chinese-Canadian baby men!_

Blackjack whinnied back. _He can ride with you and the girl, boss. I can handle it._

_I can handle all five of them _plus_ you, you overgrown chicken—_

I sent a quick prayer to my father for patience, which seemed appropriate given I was the only one of his kids playing nice right now. And then I had to think about horses being my half-brothers, and then it was time to hurry up and do something to get my mind off that.

"All right, here's what we'll do. I'll take Blackjack up in the air. Everyone else, get on Arion and follow below us. If we see something that looks like camp, we'll head for it."

"It shouldn't be hard to find," said Annabeth. "Like Octavian said, that many powerful demigods in one place? Just look for the glowing, 'Monsters Attack Here' sign."

"Yeah, because _someone_ had to lump us all in a giant group," I said under my breath. Luckily, Annabeth didn't seem to hear me. "Okay, any questions?"

No one said anything, so we divided up, and Blackjack took me up into the sky. We circled around a couple times, making sure Arion could maintain our pace (I didn't mention it to Blackjack, but I was more concerned that Arion wouldn't be able to slow down enough to stay with us). After we found a rhythm, I guided Blackjack back toward where Annabeth had thought we'd left Thalia and the others, figuring if we didn't run into them, at least we'd run into Pollux and his group.

About half an hour later, Blackjack got my attention.

_Boss, you demigods usually hang out in trees?_

I didn't know, so I directed him toward the ground. I caught up to Arion and repeated the question to Annabeth and the others.

"Hide in trees like common cowards?" said Octavian, offended. "We are Roman! We stand and fight!"

"And the Greeks don't?" asked Annabeth dangerously.

He scoffed. "Your great leader _was_ a tree!"

"Because she 'stood and fought,' you Roman—"

"So that's a 'no' on the demigods in trees, then?" I asked loudly.

_How about upside-down? You guys ever do that?_

"Not as a general rule..."

_So upside-down in a tree is probably not a great sign?_

I groaned and pulled up both Blackjack and Arion. "Annabeth, you're with me. Let's go check it out. The rest of you, stay here."

Annabeth climbed aboard, and we shot up into the air, then just as quickly back down into the trees where Blackjack had seen the demigod hanging upside-down. I was hoping our rapid descent would give us the element of surprise. I pulled out Riptide, ready to leap off Blackjack and charge into battle.

Blackjack hit the ground running, and I brandished my sword as we approached the unfortunate demigod.

"Oh, hey guys!" said Travis Stoll brightly.

We stared at him. He was definitely hanging upside-down from a tree; a coil of rope snaked around his ankle. But none of that seemed to concern him. He waved cheerfully at us.

I looked around wildly, trying to pinpoint the enemy. "Are you okay? Who did this?"

Travis shrugged, which looked weird upside-down. "Probably Connor. I might have crossed a line when I was teasing him earlier. I said some things about him and Aphrodite girls that were really uncalled for."

I reached up to slash the rope around his ankle, but Annabeth had already scrambled up the tree and cut him free with her knife.

"Oof," said Travis as he hit the ground. He sat up and rubbed around his foot. "Thanks, Annabeth. So you guys been making out in the woods all this time? 'Cause I gotta tell you, Thalia's pretty ticked. She was threatening to confiscate that Yankees cap until you could—ahem—'learn to use it responsibly.'"

"If we'd wanted to hide, I wouldn't have used the Yankees cap," said Annabeth. "It wouldn't have hidden Percy too. Besides, Luke confiscated it when he kidnapped us."

"Well, yeah, I guess that would have...wait, what?" Travis' eyes bugged out. "Holy Hera, seriously? You guys got yourselves _kidnapped_?"

"Didn't you wonder where we got the black pegasus?" I asked, gesturing to Blackjack. "You can tell Thalia she's welcome, by the way. We just stole Luke's tracking device."

"Luke has a tracking device?"

"_Had_."

"Oh. Uh, right. Maybe we should get to camp, and you can explain this to Thalia," Travis suggested. "Because I'm kind of lost. And woozy, but that's probably the head rush and not your explanation. ...Probably."

Annabeth hauled Travis to his feet, and he pointed unsteadily back behind us. "Camp's that way." He frowned, trying to focus on the direction he'd pointed. "No, that doesn't look right. It's by some trees."

We looked pointedly around the forest that surrounded us, but Travis didn't get the hint. He frowned again. "And leaves. There should be leaves. Dirt, too, I think."

Blackjack snorted. _He might've been more use in the tree, boss._

I couldn't really argue with that.

* * *

><p>Ultimately, we left Arion's group on the ground while Annabeth, Travis, and I took Blackjack and did an aerial sweep. Travis hadn't been far from camp, it turned out. In fact, we would've seen camp before we saw Travis, if we'd noticed the giant flying pig.<p>

On the one hand, you would think a giant flying pig would be pretty hard to miss. On the other hand, every demigod in our group was throwing everything they had at the pig, and there seemed to be a lot of missing going on. Jason and Thalia had cooked up a minor tornado, which was keeping the pig off-balance and raising enough of that dirt Travis remembered to hide the pig from the air. They couldn't completely defeat it that way, though. Leo was throwing fire into the tornado, so the air smelled faintly like burnt bacon. We followed the smell.

"The Clazmonian Sow," Annabeth whispered to me. "As far as I know, no hero has ever beaten it."

"Perfect," I muttered. "I guess it's a good thing we've got, like, a dozen heroes instead of just the one then."

As we got closer, though, I didn't see how having even fourteen of us (seventeen with Hazel, Frank, and Octavian) was going to beat this thing. It looked like someone had bred a flamingo with a pig, then fed the kid nothing but Miracle Gro for Flamingo-Pigs for about a million years. The wings and skin were bright pink, which might have led you to not take the pig seriously. Until you saw the way her hooves were tearing up the ground beneath her. I'd mistaken it for the tornado at first, but I could see it for sure up close. At one point, the pig broke free of the wind tunnel and ripped up a good square acre or so of forest in one huge lunge. Jason managed to restart the tunnel, but from the looks of things, he wasn't going to be able to keep that going much longer.

"Okay, anyone got any ideas here?" I asked desperately.

"Maybe if I had a statue..." Annabeth murmured, but I didn't know what that meant, and obviously we didn't have any statues in the middle of the forest.

"Any real ideas?" I asked. No answer. Of course.

I groaned. "Okay. We have seventeen of the most powerful demigods in the world here. Even more if Pollux and his group have made it—wait, have Pollux and his group made it?"

"Not before I left," reported Travis. He crossed and uncrossed his eyes, like he was hoping maybe he wasn't really supposed to be seeing a pig tornado in front of him.

I cursed. I'd been hoping Hestia's kid had some handy spell for this. "Think I can drown it?"

"Probably not," said Annabeth. "The wild boar can swim. I'd bet the Sow can too, so unless you can get it to kindly drown itself..."

"Probably not," I agreed. The Sow was right next to a river, but I wasn't going to be able to hold it underwater without at least an ocean, and we weren't anywhere near an ocean. I cursed again and ran through our demigod arsenal in my head. Will: shooting off arrows, but no effect. Travis/Connor: nothing to steal. Piper: nothing to charmspeak, unless that Sow spoke English. (Or even Ancient Greek; I wouldn't be picky.)

Clarisse, Beckendorf, and Nico had drawn their swords to protect the close-fighters and non-demigods of the group, but they would only get a chance if the Sow escaped and charged them on the ground. At which point, they would probably die. Unless Octavian, Frank, or Hazel had some magical sow-fighting abilities, we were going to need another option.

"Could it survive a lightning strike?" I yelled over the approaching tornado.

Annabeth leaned in to yell back. Right in my ear. Ow. "Not many things can survive a direct lightning strike. But Thalia and Jason are using all their power to keep it _barely_ contained; if one of them leaves—"

"I know," I said. "It'll break free."

"And be practically impossible to hit with lightning."

"Which is why I'm taking Thalia's place," I said, encouraging Blackjack into a nosedive toward the tornado.

"You're _WHAAA..._" The wind whipped away whatever protest Annabeth was making. I'd have to remember this trick for the next time we were arguing. From now on, no arguments unless we were on a pegasus hundreds of feet in the air.

I jumped off Blackjack, urging him to drop Annabeth and Travis off with Nico and Beckendorf's group.

_You got it, boss. They're safe with me._

I thanked him and stepped up to Thalia.

"Need some help?" I yelled.

"Percy! Where in Hades have you been?" she shouted back.

"Later! I'm here to relieve you so you can get that lightning of yours ready to barbecue some pork!"

"You can't—"

I actually wasn't entirely sure I could, but I made a conscious decision not to think that way. I summoned the river to me and tried to channel a hurricane. I whirled the water around the pig as fast as I could. It wasn't quite as good as Thalia's, but it looked like it'd hold for a minute or so.

Thalia stepped back and raised her hands to the sky. She muttered something under her breath, either a prayer to her father or a curse on me, I couldn't tell which. Lightning started crackling overhead.

"If you can do anything to hurry things up..." I suggested through gritted teeth. I was getting tired a lot more quickly than I'd hoped. It felt like the water was battling the air as it funneled around the Sow. I wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, Jason grabbed my hand. "Work together!" he shouted, and I nodded to show I understood. I closed my eyes, concentrating on bending the water to _our_ will, not just mine. Jason and I raised our hands together, still linked. I'd feel weird about this later, I decided. Why hadn't I relieved Jason instead of Thalia?

I didn't have too long to worry about it, though. Immediately I noticed a difference in the flow of the water. The air no longer seemed to be providing resistance. Instead the air was propelling the water like a high-powered hose. It was how I imagined a hurricane. Water and air, swirling in one deadly, immensely powerful storm.

It even seemed more powerful than Jason and Thalia had been together. We halted the Sow in its tracks, although Leo's fire-throwing was now completely ineffective. Hopefully, though...

As if on cue, Thalia slammed her hands toward the ground, and the most massive lightning strike I'd ever seen came hurtling toward the Sow.

"_REEEEET!_" howled the Sow. It turned out to be a death _reet_, because a second later, the pig had disintegrated, and the only sounds were the cheers of our friends and the super winds of our mini-hurricane.

Jason and I dropped our hands, and the water came crashing down to earth. Thalia, Jason, and I all stood there, bent double and panting.

"Nice timing, Jackson," Thalia growled.

I smiled sheepishly. "Uh, better late than never?"

Thalia apparently still had enough power left to singe the top of my hair.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: On a more positive author's note for once: no two-year gap in updating! This must be what accomplishment feels like.**

**Once again, I fully own all mistakes and errors in the chapter. I did my own editing, which is always dangerous...**

**Thanks to everybody who's been reading, favoriting, etc. It really means a lot to me, so I hope you enjoyed!**


	12. If You're Going to San Francisco

**This chapter contains dialogue lifted directly from both "The Last Olympian" and "The Titan's Curse". Nothing major, but it should probably be acknowledged here. After all, I own neither book, and none of these characters, and I've borrowed Rick Riordan's writing purely for AU purposes. So if we're being honest here, I really get credit for nothing, huh?**

**Chapter 12: If You're Going to San Francisco**

"We were _captured!_" Annabeth argued for about the zillionth time. "It's not like we ran away and hoped you wouldn't notice!"

"Sure, captured by Luke," said Thalia with a yawn. "Been there, done that."

"Oh, you have not!" Annabeth scowled. "Every time Luke's tried to capture you, he's captured _me_ instead."

"So what you're saying is, I'm smart enough not to get captured in the first place."

Annabeth's face turned an alarming shade of purple, and I decided it was good Athena's kids just got brainpower instead of—say, just off the top of my head—lightning. Not that Thalia having lightning was great for general life expectancies, but it was currently a lot better for _her_ life expectancy.

"Look," I said, rushing to intervene before this got violent, "we found out what happened to Beta. And we found a ton of new demigods. That's gotta count for something, right? Plus Blackjack. And Travis."

"Upside down in a tree," Annabeth muttered.

Connor smirked. "_Now_ who pranks like an Aphrodite girl?"

"No, no, you're right. I already admitted it was uncalled for," said Travis with a matching smirk. "Using a rope snare shows all the finesse of, like, an Ares girl."

"Hey!" shouted Connor and Clarisse together before they realized they were agreeing. They hastily backed off, but it was toward their weapons, so it really wasn't reassuring.

Luckily, before it could escalate, Hazel came riding up on Arion. Octavian and Frank were still with her, but both of them leapt off the horse as soon as it came to a complete stop. Actually, "leapt" might have been too strong a word; if I hadn't known better, I'd have said Arion had bucked them off.

_Baby men and slimy augers_, I heard Arion whinny in disgust. _Next time, the overgrown chicken can have them_.

I winced as Blackjack's response hit my ears. Where did these guys even learn these words?

"Hey, everybody, this is Hazel," I said, gesturing to the new girl.

Everybody laughed.

"What?" I demanded.

"We all know Hazel," said Will. "She stays with us at Camp Alpha."

"_I_ don't know her," pointed out Piper. I gave her a grateful look. She walked up to Arion and smiled, holding out her hand. "I'm Piper McLean. Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, and I'm Leo," said Leo, blowing off his still-smoking hands. "I throw fire, because my hotness simply can't be contained. In fact, some have said I'm _too_ hot, but those people are just jealous. Or arson investigators. Which is a joke, mostly, so stop looking at me like that."

Hazel's mouth snapped closed, and she shook her head vigorously. "Uh, sorry. It wasn't that. You just...you look really familiar. I thought you were someone else."

"Ah," said Leo knowingly. "Brad Pitt. I get that a lot."

"Brad who?" asked Hazel.

Leo's jaw dropped. "You don't know Brad Pitt?"

"Hazel...isn't from around here," Nico explained cagily. As always, no elaboration.

"Hey, I'm cool with that," Leo said with a grin. "What I'm getting out of this is that she can't argue. For all she knows, I could totally be Brad Pitt."

"Believe me when I tell you, you are _no_ Brad Pitt." Piper snorted, like she'd met the guy personally or something. Leo stuck his tongue out at her.

Frank stepped forward. "Uh, hi, everyone. I'm Frank. Son of Mars."

He still didn't sound happy about it. I wondered why he kept introducing himself that way if he hated it so much. It was like saying the word "Mars" left a bad taste in his mouth, but his therapist had told him he'd better get used to it.

"And you all know Octavian," said Annabeth. She managed to put more disdain into the word "Octavian" than Frank could ever hope to achieve.

"Right, the guy who murders innocent teddy bears," said Rachel brightly. "I've heard all about you!"

Octavian looked over and sized her up. "Why do you have a mortal girl traveling with you?"

"You're mortal too, buddy. In fact, given how long you demigods tend to live, I'd say you're even more mortal than I am," Rachel informed him.

"I told you our Oracle was mortal," Annabeth said. "This is our Oracle. Rachel, meet Octavian. Octavian, meet Rachel."

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare, at your service!" Rachel offered her hand, then realized how dirty is was, wiped it on her paint-splattered jeans, and re-offered it. Octavian took it gingerly.

"She's...very mortal," he commented.

"She's standing right in front of you," Rachel returned. "What, you think mortals don't have ears? We're a lot like you. Fingers, toes, eyes, nose—"

"Mouth?" added Octavian.

"Ego," retorted Rachel.

"Yes, I don't know why we didn't do this months ago," said Thalia dryly. "Isn't there some prophecy about the two of you getting along?"

"No," they chorused.

"Well, write one!"

"That's not how it works," Octavian complained.

"Some people have no respect for the craft," Rachel huffed.

"That's me. No respect," agreed Thalia. "You're all a bunch of fakers, as far as I'm concerned. I've seen better acts in Vegas."

Octavian gaped at her, but Rachel just shrugged. "Fine. If you don't want to know the mysteries of the universe, we'll take our human Magic 8 ball act elsewhere. Come on, Octavian. Let's go see if we can unravel this prophecy. Or at least uncover some lottery numbers."

She led him away. Thalia called after them, "You're not going to hold this against me for all eternity or anything, are you?"

"Signs are hazy; ask again later!" Rachel called back.

Connor turned to Travis. "Do you think they can actually find lottery numbers?"

"I don't know," said Travis, frowning. "They never mentioned it before."

Connor scratched his chin. "They'd have to see which lottery too; it won't do us any good to have the Powerball numbers, only to find out they saw Mega Millions."

Travis nodded. "Or what if they don't pay attention to which number is the bonus number? Order matters! Do you think they know that?"

The brothers looked at each other, then immediately took off after Octavian and Rachel, arguing about fair percentages for "consulting fees."

"They are so in group G," Thalia said.

"Is that code for something?" I whispered to Annabeth. "Group Greedy Gamblers or whatever?"

Annabeth stifled a smile, but I still saw it. Score another one for Percy. "No, it just means group three."

"Wouldn't that be group C, not G?"

"Gamma, Seaweed Brain. Alpha, beta, gamma."

"That sounds like a frat house."

"Or the first three letters of the Greek alphabet."

"Bet you more people know them from frat houses."

"Even Connor and Travis wouldn't take _that_ bet."

"Hey," I said, suddenly realizing what having a group three meant, "why are they in a group of their own? Do we all have groups?"

"You do now," Thalia announced. "I'm splitting us up."

"Didn't we suggest that, like, ages ago? And someone decided to keep us a full team?" I asked pointedly.

"That was before someone else brought three new demigods," Thalia said. "You guys might not have noticed while you were busy running away—"

"_Being captured!_" Annabeth and I yelled together.

"—But we're already attracting a billion monsters. Three more demigods is only going to make that worse, _plus_ the four other Alpha campers, if they ever find us. I'm a little concerned we haven't seen them. Not to mention someone has to go convince Reyna to fight with us. So if someone else finds Pollux and Lou Ellen and their group, someone _else_ has to go to San Francisco and scout it out, maybe get some help there if we can."

"Three groups?" I asked, ticking them off on my fingers. "One to find Reyna, one to find Pollux, one to scout?"

Thalia nodded. "We'll keep the main force heading toward Mount Tam. A couple smaller groups will split off to round up the rest of our prospective forces."

"Sounds good," said Jason. "I'll head the team going for Reyna—"

"Sorry, little bro," interrupted Thalia. "That's my assignment."

Jason pursed his lips. "That doesn't make sense. I know Reyna. And, no offense, she doesn't like you much."

"No offense taken. But you know the terrain around the Bay Area way better than I do, and Reyna is a girl."

"I'm not convinced," murmured Frank. "Have you seen her fight?"

"What's her being a girl got to do with anything?" asked Jason, confused.

Piper and Thalia shared a look.

"There are some things girls take...personally, Jason," Thalia said finally. "Now, I'm not saying it's your fault or anything, but—"

"What'd I do?" he demanded. "I didn't do anything! And anyway, if she's mad at me, why hasn't she said anything?"

Thalia and Piper shared another look. This one felt a lot like a _how-hopeless-can-boys-get?_ look.

"She's a girl," Thalia repeated. When it was obvious Jason still didn't get it, she sighed. "Look, I just think she'll react better to me coming and begging for her help. She'll like that. She won't be able to resist me groveling in front of her. Okay? Nothing to do with you."

Jason opened his mouth to keep arguing, but Piper put her hand on his arm, and then he seemed better with it.

Thalia clapped her hands. "So, I head for Reyna on foot. I'll take Octavian with me; you can all thank me later. I'll take Clarisse too. She's been at Beta long enough to know how they'll think. I'll send Will and Beckendorf with Tweedledum and Tweedledumber back there to look for the other Alpha campers by pegasus. Then they can circle back around and pick us up."

"Shouldn't you be on pegasus too?" I asked.

Thalia glared at me. "No. We'll have better cover on the ground."

"But Reyna could be really far away—"

"I said no, Jackson," Thalia growled. "It's my call. The ground is safer."

I didn't see how that possibly made sense; Thalia was the one who could control the air spirits. If anything, her group should be traveling by pegasus, then swinging back around to pick up the others. But Annabeth shook her head slightly at me, telling me to let it go.

"You know, it would probably make sense to split Travis and Connor between the two groups," Annabeth suggested. "They _are_ sons of the god of travelers. It's why they're here in the first place."

"Yeah, and then I get to worry about keeping Clarisse from killing one of them. Thanks, but no thanks. They stay in a group far, far away from us. Besides, if anyone can keep the two of them in line, it's Beckendorf."

"Sure, but what if you run into Luke? You'll want another son of Hermes," argued Annabeth. "You're more likely to see him or his forces if you're traveling by land."

Thalia considered it reluctantly. "Maybe."

"Rachel should probably go with Will," said Annabeth, calculating. "We don't want Octavian and Rachel together, but we also don't want Rachel in a position to fight. It makes sense to keep her with Will anyway. He'll stick close to her, and if she suddenly starts spouting new prophecy, he'll recognize it right away."

Thalia nodded. "I agree. We've already trashed the traditional three-demigods-on-a-quest rule. Might as well toss in a mortal as well. That leaves the rest of you to continue toward Tam."

"I could go with you," Annabeth offered. "Appeal to Reyna, one half-battle goddess to another."

"No," said Thalia emphatically.

"Then I could stick with Rachel—"

"No."

Annabeth frowned. "You can't just say 'no.'"

"We need you in San Francisco. We might need a place to rest and refuel—"

"Then Jason can find us a place!" Annabeth snapped. "He knows San Francisco better than I do!"

"I don't need someone who knows San Francisco," said Thalia patiently. "I need someone who knows someone in San Francisco."

Annabeth frowned harder. "Try the Yellow Pages."

Thalia closed her eyes. "Annabeth..."

"No," she said with finality. "As a last resort. Not before."

"Fine," Thalia said, massaging her temples. "We don't have time to argue. I know you'll do the right thing."

That was the last straw for Annabeth. She shot one last venomous look at Thalia, then turned on her heel and marched away.

The rest of us watched her go.

"Uh, was it something you said?" asked Leo.

"She'll come around," said Thalia, completely unconvincingly. "So, we're all clear on our assignments?"

We nodded. I glanced back at where Annabeth had gone, but she'd disappeared. Probably literally.

"Good. Break camp. We leave as soon as possible."

* * *

><p>Annabeth reappeared just as we were preparing the pegasi. She came up to me without a word, but I didn't have time to spare her more than a passing thought. I was mediating yet another argument between Arion and Blackjack.<p>

"Please," I begged them. "Beckendorf's group needs four pegasi to get everyone back to us. That leaves three pegasi, plus the two of you. And we have nine of us who need transportation."

_One of you has a serious case of death smell, boss_, Blackjack pointed out.

"Yes," I said patiently.

_And one of you is a baby man!_ Arion whinnied.

"You've mentioned that before," I said, trying to stay patient.

_I'm a team player, boss, but even I got limits._

"You have something against baby men too?" I asked.

_'Course not. I'm not prejudiced!_

"Except against death?"

_Well, that's just good sense._

"Arion doesn't seem to mind Hazel," said Annabeth, breaking into the argument despite not being able to hear half of it. "Maybe he could carry Nico too?"

"Hey, yeah, good thinking. Arion, how about it? Hazel and her brother?"

_I can do that. _I'm_ not a scaredy-horse_, Arion whinnied smugly, which I wouldn't have thought possible a few hours ago.

_No, just stupid, you son of a wheat field,_ said Blackjack without missing a beat.

"How is that even an insult?" I wondered out loud. "Never mind. Don't explain. No, Blackjack, I said _don't_ explain! Especially since that's really more of a rant than an explanation—look, I don't care who gave birth to who, okay? Pegasus was the son of a Gorgon, you know, so I don't think anyone has any high ground here!"

Annabeth cleared her throat, and I looked up to see the rest of the group staring at me. My face flooded as I realized I'd been shouting at horses.

_You don't need high ground when you have wings_, Blackjack couldn't resist adding.

_Or the ability to outrun the sun_, Arion threw in.

"Forget it," I grunted. "Just...just get ready to go. Hazel, you and Nico are going to take Arion."

I couldn't tell if Nico was relieved he wouldn't be on a pegasus or apprehensive that he was going to be on a freakishly fast horse. He didn't complain, though.

"The rest of the pegasi have their instructions," I assured Beckendorf. "They know what to do."

"No sweat," he said, waving it away. "I've ridden pegasi a ton of times before. My girlfriend is really good with them. When we go on dates—"

I decided I didn't need any more information than that. "Okay, then! I think we're set."

"Easy for _you_ to say," said Connor grouchily. He and Travis had played a game of rock, parchment, shears, and Connor had lost. Naturally Travis had cheated, but so had Connor; Travis had cheated better, so Connor was stuck in Clarisse's group. Privately (_very_ privately) I thought this was probably good. Clarisse was still ticked at Travis for his "Ares girl" comment earlier, so Connor was marginally safer with her. Assuming Clarisse could tell which of them was which, of course.

Thalia rounded up her group, and the rest of us saddled up—or we would have, had the pegasi or Arion allowed a saddle. I jumped on Blackjack, then stretched a hand down to pull Annabeth up after me.

"Good luck!" Thalia called to everyone as she prodded Connor in the back with her spear. He made a face, but he grudgingly took off in the direction the Beta campers had last seen Reyna. Beckendorf's group took to the skies after them, flying high enough to sweep the trees for signs of the formerly imprisoned Alpha campers.

The rest of us milled around for a second. Finally, Jason turned to me.

"So what's the plan?"

"You're asking me?" I asked, shocked.

"Well, no," he admitted. "I was asking Annabeth. But you could answer too."

I fumed silently as Annabeth's face stretched into a grin. She was behind me, so I couldn't see it, but man could I feel it.

"Let's just follow Thalia's orders," said Nico, sounding bored. "Go to San Francisco, find some bad guys to attack, probably die in horrible and extra depressing ways."

I wished the kid would lighten up a little. "You never know. We've made it this far, haven't we?"

He stared at me blandly. "Yes. That's what will make it extra depressing."

"I _meant_ we'll get through this too," I said, scowling. "It was supposed to be inspirational."

Another grin tugged at Annabeth's lips. "You thought reminding us of all the times we've had to cheat death so far would inspire us to, what? Race into battle and hope that famous demigod luck continues to hold?"

"How many times can you cheat death, anyway?" asked Frank nervously. "Because I hear with great power comes a really short life..."

"Cheating death?" asked Leo. "I think I saw that movie. It didn't end well. Or start well. Come to think of it, the middle part wasn't that great either."

"How would you know?" teased Jason. "Word on the street is you had your head buried in a pillow the whole time."

Leo looked scandalized. "Piper! I buried my head _in confidence_."

"Sorry," Piper said, not particularly apologetically.

I dropped my head into my hands. "Oh, yeah, this is going great." I raised my voice. "I'm taking off now. To go to San Francisco and maybe save the world or something."

"Besides, I was only burying my head to avoid looking at how awful the movie was—"

"Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

"Again? Aw, man, I thought I'd finally gotten that under control..."

I raised my voice again. "Anyone who wants to join me is welcome!"

"Not literally, Leo! It's an expression!"

"Not for some of us, it isn't!"

Annabeth smirked and leaned in to suggest, "Why don't we take off and see what happens?"

I sighed. "Yeah. At this point, I'm not even sure I care who follows. Blackjack, take us out. Far enough ahead of Piper and Leo that I can't hear them argue, if you can."

_No problem, boss. You can help me practice my standup._

"That's not exactly—"

_Welcome, mares and stallions! Great to see you all made it out to the pasture tonight. Do we have any demigods in the audience? Oh, great, I think I see one! And what's your name?_

It took me a second to realize he honestly expected a response. Out loud. I closed my eyes and tried not to imagine Annabeth adding "certifiably insane" to her list of reasons I might be better off dead. "Uh, it's Percy."

_Percy? Man, as if you demigods didn't have enough problems. I mean, I love demigods, don't get me wrong, but have you ever noticed how they're always getting attacked by horrible monsters? Really terrible, terrible monsters, who want to rip out their hearts, or crush their lungs, or bash in their heads?_

"We get the point."

_Or drive them insane? Or kill them with venom? Or..._

I rubbed my temples and tried to pretend I didn't hear the other pegasi howling in agreement.

* * *

><p>We came up on San Francisco a couple hours after sunset. We could see it long before we got there, though; the place was lit up like Times Square on New Year's Eve. All except one very obvious stretch of land just north of the main city.<p>

"I'll give you everything I own if you tell me that isn't where we have to go," I murmured to Annabeth.

She considered it. "Does it have to be the truth?"

"Try me. I'm gullible."

Annabeth chuckled, but then she got quiet. "I'm sorry you got dragged into this," she said at last. "We were just supposed to get you safely out of camp."

"Hey, I'm out of camp. No one's attacking. Looks like mission accomplished to me!" I joked.

She punched my shoulder. "You're flying directly into the worst danger on the planet."

"Well, yeah, but I'm pretty sure I chose to do that," I said. "Although now that I think about it..."

Another punch to the shoulder, harder this time. I tried not to flinch. "You still have time to run away, you know."

"Nah," I said with a shrug. "It's only fair. I got left out of most of this whole 'battling evil' thing for sixteen years. Time to sub in some new players. I don't suppose I could convince you to take a seat on the bench for a couple days?"

I said it jokingly, but inwardly I wondered. The prophecy had said _"birth the hero's eternal doom."_ We'd all agreed it was singular. But Rachel had spoken the prophecy aloud; she could have said _"birth the heroes' eternal doom."_ Would we have caught the difference? How could we be sure? Did it make sense to risk all of us when we could just risk me? If my fate was already sealed, putting anyone else in this battle was basically throwing away other demigod lives. For no reason.

"Not a chance, Seaweed Brain," said Annabeth, pulling me back to the task at hand. "I'm seeing this one through. I've been preparing for this my whole life."

_And I find that kind of sad_, I wanted to say, but I knew she wouldn't appreciate it. Besides, every one of us had been preparing for this our entire lives. Some of us just hadn't known it at the time.

"You remember the other day?" she asked, and though she was behind me, I somehow knew she wasn't looking at me. "I mean, when I asked you about making an impossible choice?"

"Not just for yourself," I recalled, nodding. "And I ruined the moment with a badly-timed but still totally awesome joke."

"It was pretty lame," she countered. I could hear the smirk in her voice.

"You laughed."

"I've led a very sheltered life."

It was my turn to laugh. "What, you don't get Comedy Central at camp?"

"Depends on whether the Stolls are feeling generous," she said. "Most of the time they keep their pirated cable tuned to the Game Show Network. Unless _Pranked_ or _Punk'd_ is on. Or the World Series of Poker."

"That...doesn't surprise me somehow."

"I usually watched documentaries when I got a turn anyway," Annabeth confessed, in yet another turn of events that absolutely didn't surprise me. "Listening to narration and interviews goes a lot faster than reading a textbook when you're dyslexic. Luke used to say..."

She broke off abruptly, and I resisted the urge to turn around to look at her expression. I tried to keep it light-hearted. "Probably something about taking over the world someday, huh?"

It came out less like a joke and more like bitter sarcasm. I could cross "keeping things light-hearted" off my list of job skills.

Annabeth sighed. "He wasn't always like this. Seriously. I know you don't believe me, but he wasn't. He used to be—"

"The kind of guy who made you believe anything was possible," I said, reciting Thalia's line from the other day. Annabeth looked at me funny. "Until Thalia died."

"Even then," she insisted. "He was sad, and he was angry, but he was still Luke. He'd dye Chiron's mane pink or steal architecture books from the library for me, even though we could have just checked them out, because he said it was more fun that way. I knew he was only doing it to make me laugh, but it always worked. I couldn't stay mad at him."

"What changed?" I asked softly.

"I don't know." She sighed heavily. "We had a ritual, he and I. Five days a year—our three birthdays, the day I met them, and the day Thalia sacrificed herself for us—we would take a picnic lunch up to Thalia's tree. We'd sit there and tell stories like she was still with us. It was always fun. We'd reminisce about our days on the run, and Luke would tell her his latest pranks. I would talk about new things I'd learned. I thought it was our way of dealing with everything and moving on.

"I found out by accident one year that Luke always went an extra day, the day he and Thalia found each other. I heard him once, and he didn't talk to the tree like he did when I was with him. He talked to her like I guess they probably talked to each other when I wasn't around. Luke talked about how afraid he was and how much he wanted to hurt his dad. And then he cried a lot and yelled at Thalia for abandoning him. It was scary, Percy. It was a side of Luke he would never, _ever_ have let me see if he'd known. I waited until he went back to camp, and when I finally followed him, he was his same old self. He joked around like he always did.

"But I started to notice things I hadn't before," she confessed. She didn't explain right away, though. She stopped, like she was carefully choosing the words for a story no one had ever heard before.

I wondered if she'd ever had anyone to tell the story_ to_ before now, and I guessed she probably hadn't. She didn't have that many close friends, and no way could she have told Thalia. In a weird sort of way, I felt honored she was telling me. I probably would have preferred a story about a guy she _didn't_ have a crush on, but I couldn't afford to be picky.

"Things like what?" I asked when she didn't keep going.

I could feel her start fidgeting behind me. "Things like...like he'd have these moods. He'd be depressed, but he was good at covering it. Until I knew what to look for, I had no idea. He upped his training schedule; I thought it was a reaction to not being good enough to save Thalia, but now I think he just liked being able to slash things to pieces. He would disappear for hours at a time. He would say the weirdest stuff, and then immediately pretend he was kidding."

"And you didn't tell anyone?" I asked. "Shouldn't someone have known he was getting a little, y'know, unstable?"

"Look, you don't know Luke, okay?" she snapped. "He was fine! So what if he needed some time to himself every once in awhile? He had a tough life. I figured he'd earned it."

"You defended him," I realized. "You hid it, all the weird stuff he was doing. So Chiron and everybody else wouldn't know."

"You don't get it. He was _fine_," she insisted, choking a little. "It was never anything serious, just little things. I didn't want to get him in trouble."

It didn't take a world-class artist to connect these dots. "In case he got sent away, or he got mad at you for telling. You didn't want him to leave."

"I would have gone with him," she said miserably. "I wouldn't have hesitated. He was the only family I had, no matter how much I liked camp."

Another thought sparked in the back of my brain. "That decision you had to make. It was whether or not to go with him."

I felt her shift behind me. "Pretty much. He didn't ask me to go with him when he left, you know. If he had, I would have gone, no question. He'd just saved my life. But he didn't say anything until last year. He came to see me while I was at school. He looked scared, Percy. He told me Kronos was going to use him to take over the world. He said he wanted to run away, like the old days. He wanted me to come with him."

"But you didn't trust him."

"No, not really. He'd kidnapped me before, to lure Thalia to my rescue. I figured this was another ploy to get her. Plus...well, a lot of things had changed since the old days."

"Like what?" I asked, curious.

"You," she said bluntly.

I snorted, trying to ignore the warm feeling warring with the butterflies in the pit of my stomach. "Yeah, right. I was keeping you from running away with the man of your dreams. Get real."

"Don't be ridiculous," she scoffed. The warm feeling vanished. "It wasn't _you_ you. My mother was waiting to see what happened, and she wanted me close to take care of it. All I knew was there was another Big Three kid running around, and my mother thought he was dangerous."

"And you wanted to set things right for your mother," I said, unconsciously echoing Nico's assessment.

"I owed her a little. Anyway, Luke got mad and accused me of abandoning him just like Thalia had, and I tried to point out that he'd technically abandoned us first, but he wasn't really into logical reasoning by then. He said I might as well fight him right there, because it was the last chance I'd get."

"So what'd you do?"

"I laughed at him," she said simply. "I told him there was no way. Why would I fight him? He was better than I was. I could never hope to disable him, and I knew I couldn't kill him even after everything he'd done. So he just begged me again to think about running away, and I shut the drafting room door in his face.

"But I did think about it," Annabeth went on, "even though I literally slammed the door on him. I knew I had a decision: follow Luke, or follow my mother. If I went with Luke, I thought maybe I could talk some sense into him, but that would mean sealing my mother's fate with the gods—they would never let her live my actions down. If I followed my mother and Luke was telling the truth, I was dooming him. It was an impossible position. In the end, I picked my mother."

I hesitated, trying to find the right words. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you chose your mom," I said eventually. "Otherwise I'd probably never have met you."

"I'd also never have tried to kill you," she pointed out.

"Some things are worth a few murder attempts." I turned in time to catch her blush, visible even in the dark. I quickly turned back. "Uh, do you regret it?" I asked, changing the subject. "Choosing your mom, I mean. Is that why you're still trying to save Luke?"

"He chose his fate," she said, though I didn't think her heart was really in it.

"We might still be able to help him," I offered, but my heart wasn't in it either.

Annabeth was quiet for a minute. "I think," she said slowly, "if anyone is going to save Luke now, it has to be Luke."

I didn't see that happening, but I didn't see any point in arguing it either. "So where should we set down?" I asked instead. "Does it have to be right on the scary mountain where everybody wants to kill us?"

"No, Seaweed Brain. I think Golden Gate Park will do just fine." She pointed past my shoulder to a rectangular strip of land just off the coast. It wasn't brimming with streetlights, and it obviously had trees and grass and all the other nature you didn't see in a city. It reminded me of Central Park.

The fog was thick coming off the bay, so I doubt we even needed whatever Mist was left as we touched down. We picked a spot sheltered by trees, giving the pegasi a chance to stretch their wings as we all climbed down and shook out our arms and legs. Hazel, Nico, and Arion skidded to a stop beside us.

"There's someone coming," Hazel whispered urgently. "He's walking straight toward us, like he knows we're here."

"No way," I said firmly. "Not unless he's a god."

"Or another demigod, maybe from Beta," suggested Piper optimistically.

"Or another Titan, coming to slit our throats," suggested Nico, less optimistically.

A middle-aged man, athletic-looking with sandy-colored hair, stepped out of the shadows and greeted us with an awkward wave.

"Hello!" he called good-naturedly. He didn't seem bothered by all the weapons pointed at him, although his eyes did widen when he saw the pegasi. "Fascinating! How does the wingspan compensate for the weight of the horse's body, I wonder?"

I couldn't tell if he was waiting for a real response to that question, but I was fairly sure only one of us could possibly answer. I turned to Annabeth.

She sighed, somehow managing to look both shocked and resigned at the same time. "Hello, Dad."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And one chapter closer to the end! Just a couple more to go.**

**Once again, all mistakes in this chapter are mine. I fully own them, unless I can blame them on Rick Riordan for any reason.**

**Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/alerted. It always means a lot to know you're reading and enjoying the story!**


	13. We Are Family

**Chapter 13: We Are Family**

"Annabeth!" The man's eyes lit up. His eyebrows flew so high they almost reached the old-fashioned aviator's cap and goggles perched on his forehead. "My gods, is it really you? You're so much taller!"

"Than I was when I was six, you mean?" Annabeth said wryly. Other kids started giving her curious looks, but she resolutely ignored them.

Her father didn't seem to register her sarcasm. "It's so wonderful to see you again. When Thalia called to say you were visiting—"

"When Thalia did what?" Annabeth asked dangerously.

"Oh, was it supposed to be a surprise?" her dad asked, oblivious. I couldn't tell if he was genuinely misinterpreting here, or stubbornly ignoring reality. Either way, he was good at it.

"No, not a surprise. Just..." Annabeth floundered. I could tell she was trying to find a tactful way to say, "I wasn't planning on telling you" and failing miserably.

"We're here on business," I said, jumping to her rescue. "We weren't sure how long we'd be here."

Annabeth shot me a grateful look, and her father noticed me for the first time.

"Who are you?" he asked. It wasn't rude, exactly, just curious.

"Percy Jackson. Uh, sir," I added belatedly, holding out my hand for him to shake. "I'm a friend of Annabeth's."

I glanced over to make sure I hadn't overstepped any bounds by calling myself Annabeth's friend without permission, but Annabeth still mostly just looked grateful.

Her dad nodded thoughtfully. "That's right. You were here a couple years ago, weren't you? I remember now. I thought you were blond."

"Um, that was me, sir," Jason said, stepping forward. "Jason Grace? Thalia's brother?"

He snapped his fingers. "Of course, Thalia's brother! Thalia and those girls, the ones with bows and arrows. They were hunting something, I think? Maybe men?"

"Maybe we come back to that later?" said Jason hastily. He glanced at Nico, who was silently smoldering. More smoldering than usual, even.

"Why don't we set up camp so Annabeth and her father can talk privately?" suggested Piper. "Come on, everyone."

"Aw, but—" Leo started to protest, but Piper silenced him with a look. "I mean, I love setting up camp! I'm totally down with doing hours of manual labor instead of watching an epic showdown between Annabeth and her estranged dad. Ow!"

Piper took Leo's ear and forcibly dragged him away, smiling apologetically at Annabeth. Everyone else filed after them, but when I went to follow, Annabeth grabbed my hand.

"You can stay," she said. Then, apparently feeling that sounded more like an order than an offer, she added, "If you want, I mean. You don't have to."

"No sweat," I said casually. Inside, though, I was anything but cool. How awkward is it to meet your would-be murderer's parents before you've even really met your would-be murderer? At least it wasn't her mother.

If her dad was weirded out by Annabeth inviting some random guy to intrude on their father-daughter conversation, he didn't show it. "So...how have you been, Annabeth? You didn't respond to any of my letters."

"I've been busy," she said shortly.

His face fell, and Annabeth looked away.

We stood in awkward silence for a couple minutes until finally I couldn't take it anymore. I cleared my throat. "So, Mister Chase, how did you find us?"

His expression brightened. "Oh, it was easy, once I knew where to look! I research military technology, you know, so I'm used to looking to the skies for aircraft formations. Pegasus formations are remarkably similar. Did you know in the early days of weaponized aircraft—"

"Dad," Annabeth broke in, "we're kind of on a tight schedule here. I'm sure Percy would be thrilled to hear about military history later, but maybe we could skip the lecture for now?"

Her dad looked a little hurt again, so I tried to imitate that disapproving expression my mom got whenever she found out I'd rushed out to "fight a really sudden monster" instead of cleaning my room. It didn't seem to work as well on Annabeth as it did on me, but she looked a little more ashamed than she had. Maybe. It was hard to tell in the dark.

"Why are you here, Dad?" Annabeth asked. At least she didn't sound so openly hostile. That might have been progress.

"I thought maybe you could use some help." He fiddled with the hem of his shirt, which looked like he'd buttoned it in the dark. One side of his collar was sticking up higher than the other. "I know we haven't had much father-daughter time these past few years, but I never thought...I understand you're mad at us, and you haven't had much time to visit—"

"San Francisco is a really dangerous place for demigods," Annabeth told him defensively.

"Too dangerous to send a letter?" her dad asked, smiling lopsidedly. He glanced around. "Or stop by when you're already in the neighborhood?"

The dude had a point. Not one I really wanted to hammer home to Annabeth, but a point nonetheless.

Annabeth must have thought so too, but then I didn't think she'd honestly believed her own excuses in the first place. She sighed. "You're right, Dad."

He blinked owlishly. "I am?"

"I should have said something. Thalia shouldn't have had to tell you I was in town. I'm sorry."

"I, uh, well. Yes. That's fine." He still looked a little bewildered. Clearly this wasn't how he'd expected the conversation to go. "Um, so, ah, things are good?"

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. Annabeth just barely refrained from rolling her eyes.

"Things are fine, Dad. How about I stop by after our quest is done—"

His face fell again. "After the quest? I thought maybe you could spend the night at home, with me and your brothers and..."

He trailed off, apparently realizing he'd said the wrong thing. Annabeth's expression hardened.

"No, thanks," she said coolly. "It wouldn't be _safe_ for them."

She sounded bitter, and the emphasis meant she was probably referencing something I didn't get. Her dad didn't seem to get it either.

"You could stay with us for the night, Mister Chase," I suggested suddenly, surprising even myself. Annabeth shot me a look that promised a few more murder attempts before the night was over. But the guy just looked so _sad_.

"Really?" he asked hopefully. He turned to Annabeth. "I mean, if it's okay with you, of course."

She looked torn.

"Of course it's okay!" I said brightly. "_Right_, Annabeth?"

"Yes. Of course it's okay," she grumbled at last.

Despite her less-than-encouraging response, her dad jumped at the opportunity. "I have a sleeping bag in the car! And snacks, water, flares, a first aid kit, fishing gear, rat traps, bug spray, firewood, daggers, military history books—"

"Why do you have all that in your car?" I interrupted.

"I came to help!" he said, as though this explained everything.

"With _military history books_?"

"Oh, yes. Unfortunately I only had room for about twelve, but don't worry, I've picked the very best!"

"And rat traps?"

Another owlish stare. "You don't _like_ rats, do you?"

"We'll help you get the stuff from your car, Dad," Annabeth offered, fighting back a smile. At my expense, of course. "Thanks."

He beamed. "Do you think we could use a pegasus?"

* * *

><p>Annabeth's dad fit right in among our band of misfit demigods. It was weird; I hadn't exactly been thinking when I offered to let a mortal man stay at camp all night with us, and I had no doubt Thalia would have some things to say about it when she joined us later, but everyone was so curious about Annabeth and her dad that no one really objected. Especially not when it turned out Dr. Chase's idea of a proper dinner was the entire junk food aisle of the Bargain Mart.<p>

In fact, from what I could tell, Dr. Chase had _no_ concept of "overkill." In addition to the junk food aisle, he'd brought most of the other aisles in the Bargain Mart too. That was just fine with us, though. He'd won the eternal loyalty of eight demigods and a satyr when Piper unloaded a twenty-four pack of double-ply toilet paper. Our loyalty came pretty cheap. (In our defense, now that our group no longer included Will, we didn't have someone to tell us which leaves were safe and which were going to make death-by-Titan look appealing.)

As we sat around an impromptu campfire, Dr. Chase quickly struck up a conversation with Leo, who seemed delighted to have a captive audience. His hands kept darting in and out of his tool belt, literally illustrating his points. Dr. Chase was fascinated.

One person was definitely _not_ fascinated, though. Annabeth was sitting off to the side, clearly not joining the Dr. Chase welcoming committee. I grabbed some junk food and plopped down next to her, expertly ignoring her stormy expression.

"Dinner?" I asked, holding out a bag of Cheetos and a box of Little Debbies.

She eyed both with distaste. "No. Thanks."

I shrugged and dug into the Cheetos. More for me. "So, your dad lives in San Francisco," I said conversationally.

"Yes."

I crunched some more Cheetos and waited for her to continue. She didn't.

"Everyone seems to like him pretty well," I ventured.

Her jaw clenched. "I noticed."

"It's too bad Thalia had to let him know we'd be here," I tried again, more pointedly.

This time she didn't say anything at all.

I sighed and held up my Cheeto-stained hands. "Look, I'm giving you an opportunity to unload on me before you do something you regret, like tearing off Jason's head for holding his sword wrong or whatever." I paused. "Actually, do you think you'd unload on Jason specifically? Because I can go away. No questions asked."

Annabeth didn't exactly smile, but her lips twitched. "What do you have against Jason?"

I considered it. I didn't really have anything against the guy—not anymore, at least—but he made an easy target. "He's too perfect," I decided at last. "He reminds me of those jocks in school. Well, in school on TV. Home-school didn't have a whole lot of jocks for some reason."

I thought Annabeth was going to laugh at me for calling Jason perfect, but instead she regarded me thoughtfully. "You know, I used to think that about him too. Maybe not the whole TV part, but about him being too perfect. When I first met him, he seemed so...Roman. The perfect Roman soldier. I didn't trust him."

"See?" I said. "Totally valid. What he needs is something to make him less jock-y. Like glasses!"

"Or maybe you could give him longer than a day to get to know him."

"Glasses seem easier," I said, stretching out my legs. "Plus we don't exactly have a ton of time to get on the same page before the world ends. How long did it take _you_ to get to know him?"

Something glinted in her eyes, but it was gone before I could identify it. "Awhile. It wasn't just the Roman thing. I resented him for a long time because I blamed him for Thalia getting killed."

I must have looked confused, because seriously, Thalia had told me that story. Jason wasn't even there.

"It wasn't his fault, of course. Not really. But Thalia had left home because she thought Jason was dead. If she had known Jason was just hidden away, she never would have run. And if she'd never run, she never would have died. It wasn't very logical, but for a long time I couldn't get past that."

"She ran because someone hid Jason away?"

Annabeth nodded. "It was Juno. Jupiter—I think they were both their Roman aspects at this point, anyway—offered Jason to her as an appeasement. The queen of the gods wasn't thrilled that her husband was not only having affairs with mortals again, but he was even having an affair with the _same_ mortal. She went a little nuts. So Jupiter offers Jason to her to keep her quiet, and Jason and Thalia's mom just gives him up without telling Thalia. Juno takes off with Jason and gives him to Lupa to train."

"Okay, that is _messed up_," I said, feeling a little sick. "Zeus just gave away his son? And Jason's mom _let_ him?"

"You can see why Jason and Thalia have some parent issues," Annabeth said dryly.

"No kidding." Definitely sick to my stomach.

"So anyway, it turned out Jason also blamed himself for getting Thalia killed, once he knew the details, and then it wasn't as much fun to use him as a human punching bag. We bonded over Thalia. I helped him realize it wasn't his fault she ran away, and he helped me realize it wasn't my fault she died protecting me. I think I reminded Thalia of Jason, when I was little. Scrawny blond-haired kid that needed her protection. So really, I had Jason to thank for the bond I shared with Thalia in the first place. Does that even make sense?"

"A little," I said, although I couldn't really imagine it. There seemed to be a lot of typical demigod things I couldn't imagine, if this sort of thing happened a lot.

Maybe Annabeth understood that too, because she asked abruptly, "What was it like for you as a kid?"

"Way different," I admitted. "For one thing, I always had my mom. You'd like her a ton. She'd like _you_ a ton. Until she found out you tried to kill me, and then she would tell me I probably deserved it."

Annabeth frowned, and I realized what that sounded like.

"No, no, she'd be joking! She's super nice. When I was little, before Grover and my dad showed up, she was engaged to this jerk, Gabe Ugliano. I hated him, and he hated me. I didn't know what my mom saw in that stinky moron. Turns out it was his stink."

"To cover up your smell to monsters," Annabeth recognized. It took her a lot less time than it'd taken me.

"Right. I mean, he was a grade-A jerk. But my mom was willing to put up with him to save me. I was so glad when my dad introduced the guy to one of his old girlfriends and turned him into a prize-winning sculpture."

Annabeth gasped. "Seriously?"

Whoops. "Um, no?"

"Percy!"

"Hey, it was my dad, not me!" In hindsight, I maybe shouldn't have mentioned that part. Good thing I hadn't also mentioned that my mom had used the sculpture to pay her way through a creative writing program. "Uh, anyway, after that everything just kind of clicked. I stayed at home with my mom, under my dad's protection, and fought monsters. I figured I had to, 'cause, you know. No one else could. I guess I probably did inherit seaweed for brains, because I never questioned that. I was just so glad to have my mom there when I woke up every morning, making blue pancakes and blue chocolate-chip cookies..."

Annabeth was giving me this funny look. I assumed it was the blue food thing. "It came from a fight my mom had with Gabe. It seemed stupid at the time, but then she started going out of her way to make as much food as she could blue, and it just kind of stuck."

Apparently that wasn't what was bugging her, because Annabeth was still giving me the funny look.

"What? Do I have Cheetos dust on my nose?" I wiped my face self-consciously.

"No, you're fine. Your mom...your mom sounds amazing."

"She really is. I hope..." I swallowed. I didn't want to finish that sentence.

"You'll get to see her again," Annabeth promised fiercely. "I'll make sure of it."

It was nice of her, but I didn't see how she was going to stop an entire prophecy. Still, I guessed if anyone could, it would be Annabeth.

I changed the subject. "Can I ask a typical Seaweed Brain question?"

"You're asking if you can ask a question?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"A _Seaweed Brain_ question," I emphasized. "You might not like it."

"Percy, in the last twenty-four hours alone, we've faced drunk partiers and a freakishly large pig. I can handle a question."

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you." I took a deep breath. "Why haven't you spoken to your dad in so long?"

Annabeth's face immediately got this closed off look. "Hasn't someone told you the story by now?"

"Bits and pieces. But...from their stories, I was expecting your dad to have devil horns and fangs. He doesn't seem so bad in real life."

"No," said Annabeth, rolling the word around on her tongue. Like she hadn't really thought about it before. "He was never _bad_. My stepmom and I had most of the problems. He stayed out of it. I kept wanting him to be there for me and take _my_ side for once, but he studies military strategy for a living. He knew an unwinnable conflict when he saw it. So he stayed silent and let my stepmom chew me out for leaving monster dust in the hall or getting bad spelling grades or whatever else. Then, when I was six, some bad things started happening."

"Monster attacks?"

"No, that wasn't new. The new part was when the monsters didn't necessarily go after me. One went after my baby brothers, and my stepmom freaked out. She blamed me. She was right, and we all knew it."

"It wasn't your fault!" I protested.

"Not intentionally, but I was the one bringing the monsters to our house. I couldn't argue with that. And then she didn't believe me, when they came at night..."

"Uh, when who came?" I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer.

Her eyes snapped to mine. "No one. Nothing. More monsters."

I knew she was lying, but I dropped it anyway. I was already pushing Annabeth way more than I had any right to. I wasn't interested in pushing my luck too. "So you ran away."

"I couldn't take it anymore. My family didn't want me, so I decided I wouldn't want them either," she said simply. "I found Luke and Thalia a few days later, and Luke promised he wouldn't fail me like my family had. The three of us would stick together no matter what.

"The monsters still came after us," Annabeth continued, looking wistful, "probably even worse than before, because Thalia was with us, but we fought them off together. It didn't seem so bad. I helped when I could, but I usually stayed out of it while Luke or Thalia did the real fighting. It felt a lot like having parents, or what I thought parents were supposed to be. They carried you and fought the monsters for you, and then they tucked you into your sleeping bag with stolen Campbell's soup straight from the can, only they didn't want you to know it was stolen, so you pretended you didn't notice." She grinned. "You know, typical parent stuff."

I smiled, but secretly I was thinking about what Nico had said: _"Annabeth rarely talks about it, but when she does, she makes it sound like they were their own little family: Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke."_ I could see how that would sound attractive to a six-year-old who felt rejected by her only biological family. Even Luke had to look good next to that.

"It's weird, seeing someone you considered a role model try to take over the universe," she finished. "It'd be like your mom trying to invade Canada or something. It just doesn't make sense no matter how you try to explain it."

"Are you scared of him now?" I asked, curious.

"No," she said honestly. "Never. It's more that I'm scared _for_ him. I'm scared of Kronos and what he could make Luke do."

"Why? What's so bad about Kronos?"

She leveled her patented _how-are-you-still-breathing_ look at me. "Seriously, Percy?"

"Cut me some slack. I know the stories. He's all cut up down in Tartarus, right? And he's being reborn, so yes, that part sucks. But for now, all he seems to be able to do is make time slow down. He can't even be really good at that, because if he were, he would have slowed down time and captured or killed us all! Plus when I fought Luke at the rebuilt Camp Beta, I was fighting _Luke_. Kronos didn't make an appearance."

Apparently that was a better answer than Annabeth had expected from me. She had to take a moment to come up with a response. I felt unreasonably proud.

"He clearly hasn't completed the process," she allowed, "but that doesn't make Kronos less terrifying. He has the power to talk to demigods from Tartarus. That's how he gets someone willing to let him do the whole rebirth thing in the first place. He whispers at demigods, telling them what they want to hear or scaring them senseless. He's a _Titan_. They're more ancient than the gods."

"Maybe demigods should quit listening to him," I muttered.

"They don't really have a choice. You've never heard a voice in your dreams, telling you to turn on your dad?"

"No! Of course not!"

Annabeth sighed. "I keep forgetting you didn't grow up like we did. Your father protected you. Kronos couldn't get to you like he could get to the rest of us. Have you ever even been in a real battle before the last couple days? One where you knew your dad couldn't jump in to save you?"

"Of course I have," I protested, although deep down I knew that was a total lie. I hadn't been scared of anything—really scared, I mean—since I'd found out my dad was a literal god who watched over me. Even when we'd fought Luke earlier, I recognized Luke had skills. Serious skills. But I'd never been truly frightened. I'd been angry. Resentful. Not scared.

"Sure you have," Annabeth said disbelievingly. "Well, you'd better get used to it. It's not like you're invincible or anything—"

She broke off suddenly, only pausing to mutter, "Oh, Luke, _di immortales_," before she ran over to Nico. I tried not to feel upset that she had bailed in the middle of a conversation with me to discuss how worried she was about a different guy with yet _another_ guy, but it didn't work. My gut twisted like it had that time that fountain had exploded all over the mean redhead who was bullying her classmates outside the Met.

"Chill, man," advised Jason as he came over to pick up my bag of Cheetos. "You done with these?"

I grunted. He seemed to take it as agreement.

"Thanks. You okay?"

"Fine," I grumbled. "Great."

"Is this one of those things I take at face value so we don't have to talk about it?" he asked. "'Cause I'm cool with that."

"Good."

"Of course, we also have three sons of the Big Three in one group, next to the seat of power of a major Titan uprising. We're probably going to get some monsters after us."

"So?"

"So we don't exactly have a ton of time to waste on brooding."

My face felt hot. "I'm not brooding!"

"Not saying you were," he said mildly. "Although pro tip? People who aren't brooding don't usually glare at Nico the way you are. Actually, people who want to live past tomorrow don't usually glare at Nico the way you are."

"I'm not glaring at Nico," I said defensively. "I'm staring. Just, you know, forcefully."

Jason laughed. "If it's about Annabeth, forget it. You have nothing to fear from Nico. Trust me."

He sounded so sure that I almost asked him how he knew. Did Nico have a girlfriend around camp? That seemed a little too much like invading Nico's privacy, though, so I left it alone.

"So you've met Annabeth's dad before?" I asked, inclining my head toward where Dr. Chase and Leo were still hunched together.

"Once," Jason said with a nod. "Her stepmom and her brothers too. We needed a car to get to Mount Tam to save Annabeth, and Thalia suggested asking the Chases."

"You've met her stepmom?" I asked curiously. "Is _she_ the one with devil horns and fangs?"

"Uh, no. Not when we saw her. Unless they were hidden under all the sandwiches and cookies she kept giving us."

"Really? Annabeth didn't make her sound like the warm and fuzzy type."

"Who knows?" Jason tossed a Cheeto up in the air and caught it in his mouth. "We only met her for a couple minutes. Mostly she just seemed concerned about Annabeth. She asked me to make sure Annabeth knew she had a home with them, if she wanted it, but when I told Annabeth, she just scoffed. I thought her stepmom seemed pretty sincere, but Annabeth wasn't quite so sure. And she wasn't about to trust _my_ opinion."

"Ah, because you'd gotten Thalia killed," I said sagely.

A Cheeto plunked him right between the eyes as his head whipped to face me. "What? No! Because I have low standards for mother figures. She said I got Thalia killed?!"

I cleared my throat. "No. Of course not. Forget I said anything. Um, I thought Thalia said everyone who went on that mission with her died?"

Probably not the smoothest segue, asking a guy if he was supposed to be dead. I wasn't being picky, though.

Jason looked confused for a second, but then his face cleared. "Oh, you mean everyone she originally brought with her from New York. Yeah, that was bad. It wasn't an easy trip. They made it here, but barely. They lost some people along the way, including Nico's sister. Thalia knew they weren't going to have enough people to rescue Annabeth on their own, so she called me and asked for reinforcements. I was already near San Francisco, at Beta, so I came to help."

"Just you?"

"Pretty much. The Hunters were really not okay with the idea of boys helping them, and Thalia only managed to talk them into having me along because I was her brother and knew the area. They definitely would have preferred Reyna as a guide, but like you saw, she and Thalia aren't exactly BFFs. Everyone else at Beta was busy shoring up camp in case the Titans attacked from Mount Tam."

I blew out a breath. "Wow. I missed a ton, didn't I?"

"It hasn't been so bad," Jason said, brushing it off. "I'm sure someone would have gotten you before now if it'd been necessary. Mostly minor skirmishes up to now. It's only been recently that Kronos has started gaining any sort of real power. The things that guy can make you see..."

He shuddered. I tried not to ask, I really did, but I couldn't help it. "Like what?"

"You haven't seen them?" Jason asked incredulously. "Or heard him? He has this power. It's terrible. He once lured me to the Underworld by making me think I had the power to save my mother. He's pure evil. If he managed to get back to full power? We wouldn't have a chance. Now that the camps are reestablished, Kronos might just have enough demigods to give him the power to rise for the first time in millennia. Plus he's being reborn in the best swordsman anyone's seen in three hundred years. I don't even want to think about what that could mean."

I must have looked totally freaked out, because suddenly Piper appeared out of nowhere and whacked Jason on the back of his head.

"Stop it! You're scaring him!" she scolded.

"No, he's not," I said automatically, but honestly, he kind of was.

Piper frowned. "Jason, I'm hereby banning you from pep talks for all eternity."

Jason squawked in protest. "He asked!"

"I don't care who started it," Piper admonished him, although she winked at me. "Now go. You're up for aerial monster watch."

Jason pouted, but he did as she ordered. He took my Cheetos with him, though. Loser.

"Really, don't worry," Piper tried to assure me once he was gone. "Kronos has been targeting Jason for years now, since he'll be sixteen next summer. As far as almost everyone knew, Jason was destined to be the hero of the prophecy. Thalia was a tree, and you were hidden, so that left him. Kronos spent years trying to get to Jason, because the Titan Lord believed that meant he could control the prophecy. But now that it turns out the prophecy took effect months ago, if Kronos wants to control it, he'll have to go through you."

I didn't feel any less freaked, and apparently I didn't look any less freaked either. Piper panicked.

"Ugh, why can't I say the right things without charmspeak? We're here to help! We won't let Kronos get you. Jason just worries because he's seen the worst of what Kronos can do."

"So wouldn't he have the inside track?" I couldn't help asking.

Piper chewed her lip. "You're not making this easy for me, you know?"

"Sorry. I don't make things easy for a lot of people."

Piper smiled. "Whatever Kronos does, we'll face it together. The number of demigods is a double-edged sword: Kronos has more potential to rise, but we have more to fight him back. We'll meet any challenge he sets. I'm sure of it."

It was nice she was so confident, but I was willing to bet she didn't have a lot of real battle experience. Of course, as I'd just discovered, neither did I. Not battles that mattered. I offered Piper a smile in return. "So what you're saying is, if Kronos blots out the sun, we'll just fight in the shadows?"

I'd intended to make her laugh with the corny movie quote, but it had the opposite effect. Her expression darkened.

"Who told you?" she demanded. "Was it Leo? No, was it Jason? Oh, I am going to _kill_ those idiots."

She had her knife out and was running after Jason and/or Leo before I could ask what the Hades was going on.

"Wow," I said to myself. "I didn't think _King of Sparta_ was _that_ bad."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Slowly but surely I'm getting to the end of this. To anyone still reading, thanks so much! It means a lot, especially with all the unscheduled hiatuses I've had to take. Almost to the end, I promise.**

**As always, all mistakes are fully and completely mine, whether grammatical, plot, or characterization. Unless they're serious mistakes, in which case **_**Blood of Olympus**_** made me do it. I seriously think I lost a few brain cells ramming my head repeatedly into the wall.**

**Thanks especially to everyone who's favorited, reviewed, or alerted. I always appreciate knowing you're interested!**

**Another minor disclaimer: the line Percy quotes is a bastardized version of a line from **_**300**_** ("Our arrows will blot out the sun!" "Then we will fight in the shade!"). It seemed appropriate for **_**King of Sparta**_**, although obviously no infringement is intended.**


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